From 'Good Hands' to Boxing Gloves – A Book Review

When Insurance Companies Don’t Play Fair

When I was a young attorney, I signed up a low impact “soft tissue” car accident case where Allstate was the injurance company. I was not able to settle the case because Allstate would not even offer my client the value of her medical bills, even though the other driver was clearly at fault. Because it was a smaller case, we decided to try the case in magistrate court (small claims court). I got a judgment significantly higher than Allstate’s offer, about $12,000. My client was happy and it was a fair resolution. I was shocked when Allstate appealled the judgement of the small claims court and asked for a jury trial in State court (small claims court personal injury judgments can be appealed as a matter of right in Georgia).

The Jury ended up awarding my client over $19,000. I thought to myself, “What is Allstate doing?” Even Allstate’s insured (who was actually a very pleasant person) was completely baffled why her insurance company filed an appeal. The appeal resulted in a 2-day jury trial she had to sit through and testify at.

The whole case seemed like a big waste of time and cost them more in the end. In a vaccum, Allstate’s stubborn refusal to pay a fair settlement offer made no sense to me as a young attorney. But, there obviously was a strategy behind this massive corporation’s decisions in the case.

From “Good Hands” to Boxing Gloves is a book that explains some of the most controversial strategies that Allstate had implemented in the 1990s to devalue claims and avoid paying a fair settlements. It shines a light on the internal motivations of Allstate and other insurance companies that are often hidden from the public. The book is a must-read for anyone who has ever had to deal with an insurance company, especially Allstate.

The Allstate Transformation: From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves

Allstate’s advertising has long assured customers that “You’re in good hands with Allstate.” But From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves reveals how, starting in the 1990s, Allstate’s actual claims strategy shifted to something far less reassuring. In 1992, Allstate launched a pilot program called the Claims Core Process Redesign (CCPR) in collaboration with consulting firm McKinsey & Company. This project fundamentally changed Allstate’s approach to claims. The very phrase “Good Hands to Boxing Gloves” comes from Allstate’s internal McKinsey presentations, which bluntly framed the new philosophy: policyholders would either accept a quick, low-ball settlement from the “good hands” people, or face the “boxing gloves” of aggressive delay and litigation if they sought more. In the book’s words, “McKinsey & Co. has taught Allstate and other insurance companies how to deliver less and less” to claimants.

The transformation Allstate undertook was motivated by profit, and it succeeded – at least for the company’s bottom line. As Berardinelli documents, Allstate’s new hardball tactics led to record profits for the insurer. In fact, based on Allstate’s own financial data, Berardinelli estimates the company reaped at least $15 billion in savings by implementing the CCPR program and “fighting minor claims” instead of paying them promptly. It’s no surprise, then, that about half of the insurance industry rushed to adopt similar strategies after seeing Allstate’s results. What was marketed as a simple “claims revamp” internally became, was an institutionalized aggressive practice aimed at enriching investors at the expense of customers.

From a plaintiff attorney’s viewpoint, this shift represents a fundamental betrayal of the insurer’s duty of good faith. The book methodically chronicles how Allstate’s ethos changed from treating claimants with fairness to treating them as adversaries. Allstate went from ostensibly putting people “in good hands” to putting on boxing gloves whenever a claimant refused to accept a minimal payout.

Inside Allstate’s Hardball Playbook

What exactly did Allstate’s “boxing gloves” strategy entail? Berardinelli’s book delves deep into the tactics developed with McKinsey’s guidance, drawing on 12,500+ pages of internal PowerPoint slides and company documents obtained through litigation. These documents reveal a systematic blueprint for reducing claim payouts. Some of the eye-opening strategies detailed in the book include:

• Quick Low-Ball Offers (The “Good Hands” Routine): Allstate would often make an early settlement offer that was deliberately low, hoping claimants would take the money and not involve attorneys. One McKinsey slide calculated that if Allstate could reduce the number of claimants who hire lawyers by 25%, it would add $1.60 to Allstate’s stock price – a clear incentive to deter victims from seeking legal help. By keeping customers in the dark and presenting a check as a friendly gesture, Allstate’s “good hands” could settle claims cheaply before claimants realized the true value of their damages.

• “Deny, Delay, Defend” (The Boxing Gloves): If a claimant did not accept the initial offer or dared to demand fair compensation, Allstate’s strategy was to put on the “boxing gloves”. The book describes how the company would intentionally slow down the claims process and vigorously contest liability or damages to wear claimants down. The goal was to make pursuing the claim arduous and time-consuming, such that many people would give up or settle for less. As insurance expert and law professor Jay Feinman summed it up, policyholders either take the low offer from the good hands people or face “the boxing gloves of extended litigation.” This hardball approach, while frustrating to claimants, was designed to save Allstate money in the long run.

• Computerized Claim Valuation (Colossus): Allstate’s transformation included adopting a computer software called Colossus to evaluate bodily injury claims. From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves reveals that this system was calibrated to consistently undervalue claims. According to Allstate’s own analysis, the Colossus program successfully reduced payouts on injury claims by around 10% on average. By inputting injury data and getting a suggested settlement range, adjusters had a built-in justification to offer less, treating what used to be human judgments as data points in a profit formula. The book discusses how this not only impacted individual claimants but also became an industry trend, with other insurers adopting similar “black box” claim systems.

• MIST Defense and “Junk Science”: A particularly striking chapter of the book covers Allstate’s approach to so-called MIST claims – “Minor Impact, Soft Tissue” injury cases. These are claims for injuries (like whiplash or back strain) stemming from low-speed car accidents. Allstate, guided by McKinsey, segmented these claims and treated them with heightened skepticism, often arguing that a minor fender-bender couldn’t possibly cause serious injury. Berardinelli and co-author Dr. Michael Freeman (an epidemiologist) dismantle this “junk science” defense in the book. They explain the medical reality that even low-impact collisions can cause real harm, and they expose how Allstate hired expert witnesses and used misleading research to cast doubt on legitimate injuries. This part of the “boxing gloves” playbook helped justify denying or severely underpaying thousands of soft tissue injury claims, unless the claimant had the resources to fight back with their own evidence.

• The “Zero-Sum” Game Mindset: Underpinning all these tactics is what the book calls a zero-sum economic game philosophy. Every dollar not paid to a claimant was seen as a dollar saved for Allstate’s shareholders. From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves shows that Allstate’s consultants explicitly calculated how much money could be saved by reducing average payouts, even if it meant many policyholders would be under-compensated. This mindset marked a stark departure from the traditional idea of insurance as a safety net; instead, claims became simply another profit center to be “managed”. As the authors put it, McKinsey’s plan taught Allstate “to deliver less and less” to customers in order to boost the bottom line. The book’s included exhibits from the McKinsey slides make it chillingly clear that maximizing profit was the primary goal, even if valid claims were shortchanged.

By developing strategies like the “MIST defense” Allstate was attempting to discourage lawyers from pursuing these types of cases. Allstate was not just thinking about each individual case, but also how to systematically avoid paying claims. Attorneys who handle personal injury cases know that Allstate has a reputation for being difficult to deal with. Berardinelli supports each of these points with detailed evidence, case studies, and direct quotes from Allstate’s own files. The result is a comprehensive “playbook” of insurance bad faith tactics. From a plaintiff attorney’s perspective, having this insider knowledge is invaluable. Indeed, From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves not only unveils what Allstate did, but also why and how they did it, arming readers with understanding.

Implications for Policyholders and the Legal Community

The revelations in From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves carry significant implications for everyday insurance policyholders and the broader legal community alike. For consumers, the book is a sobering wake-up call. It highlights that even a trusted, well-known insurer may not operate in the way one would expect when a claim is filed. Policyholders who suffer an accident or loss might assume their “good hands” insurance company will promptly help them get back on their feet. However, Berardinelli’s research suggests that behind the friendly slogans, companies like Allstate have developed sophisticated strategies to delay and minimize payouts. This means consumers need to be vigilant.

If an insurance adjuster offers a quick settlement that seems low, the book implies it likely is low by design. Armed with this knowledge, a policyholder might think twice about accepting the first offer or signing a release too soon. They may also better understand why an insurer is dragging its feet on a valid claim – it could be an intentional tactic rather than mere bureaucracy. In short, the book’s message to consumers is empowering: know that the playing field isn’t level, and be prepared to stand up for your rights.

For the legal community, especially attorneys who represent claimants, From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves is an invaluable resource and a call to action.

Plaintiff lawyers handling insurance claims or bad faith cases will find detailed information on Allstate’s internal playbook, which can help in litigation strategy. By studying the McKinsey-designed techniques, attorneys can anticipate the insurer’s moves: the low initial offer, the protracted fight if that offer is refused, the use of certain defense experts or computer-generated claim values, and so on. This knowledge enables lawyers to counter these tactics more effectively – for example, by gathering the medical evidence to defeat a MIST defense, or by exposing the flaws in a Colossus valuation during settlement negotiations or trial.

Good Hands to Boxing Gloves is a must-read for every attorney who litigates automobile accident cases, precisely because it “methodically debunk[s]” the pseudo-scientific defenses insurers use to deny legitimate injuries. The book even provides guidance on the discovery battles that often accompany bad faith litigation. Berardinelli recounts how he became the first to pry the McKinsey documents loose from Allstate’s grasp, enduring years of courtroom fights. His experience, shared in the text, offers a roadmap for other lawyers facing stonewalling by insurers claiming their materials as “trade secrets.” In this way, the book serves not just as a story of one company’s practices, but as a litigation manual for holding insurers accountable.

Conclusion: Unmasking the “Dark Side” of Insurance

In From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves, David J. Berardinelli (with co-authors Michael Freeman and Aaron DeShaw) provides a thorough and eye-opening account of how an insurer’s public promise can diverge wildly from its private practices. The book’s professional yet accessible style makes it suitable for a general audience, even as it offers deep insights for specialists. At times, the story reads more like a corporate thriller than a legal textbook – complete with consultants plotting in secrecy and insurers engaging in what the authors term “the dark heart of profit-boosting strategies” at odds with their glossy ads. Yet, every claim the book makes is backed up with data, documents, or testimony, which lends it a great deal of credibility.

From a plaintiff attorney’s perspective, From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves is more than just a book — it’s a toolkit and a source of validation. It confirms what many claimant lawyers long suspected: that some insurance companies systematically prioritize profits by limiting payouts, even if it means leaving their own customers in the lurch. For attorneys, the book offers strategies and encouragement to push back against these tactics in court. For consumers and policyholders, it offers knowledge — and with knowledge comes power. The broader legal community and consumer advocates can also glean from its pages a blueprint of what needs fixing in the insurance system.

In the end, the key message of Berardinelli’s work is that insurance companies should be held to their promises. If an insurer advertises reassurance and protection with one hand, but secretly wields boxing gloves with the other, it betrays the trust of the public. From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves shines a light on this hypocrisy in a compelling, well-researched way. It is a professional and enlightening read for anyone interested in consumer rights, insurance law, or corporate ethics. By understanding Allstate’s transformation — and the broader industry shift it triggered — readers and practitioners alike are better equipped to ensure that “good hands” means what it’s supposed to mean: keeping the promises made to policyholders. In today’s world, that makes this book not just a review of the past, but a guide for the future of insurance fairness and accountability.