Roundup Best Practices

We've been doing Roundup for several years now, and here are the best practices we follow stop Roundup fraud cold without turning away legitimate claimants.

• One way to ensure high quality is to make sure your intake agents are not incentivised/commissioned based on how many people sign up. If you're using a third party call center, be sure to ask them if they pay agents on commission. Most intake departments pay their agents low hourly wages and then make up for it with commissions that are paid based on how many signed retainers they produce. While this makes sense economically for the company, it produces very high levels of unqualified claimants.

• A key step that is often overlooked is simply to interview the claimant thoroughly and understand the details of their story. If parts of the story aren't clear, ask clarifying questions. The intake agent needs to be more like an interviewer or journalist looking for the truth, rather than just a script reader/note-taker.

• Ask follow up questions based on information received from the caller to extend the story and make certain it is clear and complete. Talk to them in depth about the location they purchased the product, how often they used it, for how many years they used it and for what purpose.

• Decline people who can't give a clear location where they purchased and used the product. Also grounds for DQ is a usage story that misunderstands what Roundup is and what it is used for. For example, characterization of the product as a "pesticide" is suspicious. If they purchase it from a chain store, ask them to specify the location of the store where they bought it.

• Verify their medical situation by getting the story behind how they went from symptoms to diagnosis to treatment. Ask what the current status of their treatment is. Cancer is a lifelong condition, even if it is in remission. Legitimate claimants will know this. If someone claims their cancer has been gone for 20 years and they don't get any check ups for it, this would not be credible. NHL is a treatable disease and it is possible to find people alive decades after diagnosis, but it is a serious disease and you should expect that they've received treatment and are receiving regular followup screenings.

• Oftentimes, we will ask for documentation of their Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma diagnosis and their treatment. While it is not reasonable to expect them to have full medical records on hand, they should be able to show something that backs up their story: a prescription bottle, insurance paperwork, medical bills, etc. People who have been through a serious illness nearly always can show something.

• Verify their identity using a service such as BeenVerified or Transunion. It's remarkable how few intake companies complete a simple instant verification of the social security number and date of birth. It's easy to do and will make pulling medical records that much easier for the law firm.

• Finally, you can simply ask them if they're being truthful or if they might have exaggerated anything and if they're confident in the information provided. While this can be awkward, honest claimants do not mind.

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Why Use the Rest When You Can Use the Best?

Here's why clients love our legal intake service:

• We specialize in screening out fraud and signing only qualified cases.
• Flat $1.95 per minute with no extra charges. Includes texting, outbounding, background checks, and more.
• Extensive verification & document collection processes, including medical records check if desired.
• Our experienced agents actually interview claimants thoroughly unlike our competitors who just read from a script.
• Lower cost per compensable and higher quality than other call centers.
• Our agents are not incentivized to sign unqualified cases unlike most others.

To learn more visit our mass tort intake page

Comments From Our Fulfillment Department

We've been signing up Roundup claimants for several years now, so we asked our fulfillment department for some comments:

• The disease list has been tightened by most law firms- now only Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and its various sub-types are qualifying.

• The required amount of exposure to Roundup has also been tightened. Previously, law firms were not requiring a minimum number of uses to meet the exposure requirement, but in 2022 most law firms began requiring at least 10 individual exposures within 2 years.

• Early cases didn't have latency requirements, but for the last few years most firms are requiring at least a 1 year latency between diagnosis and first exposure.

• Compared to Paraquat, Roundup claimants are more likely to have been exposed to the product for personal use, i.e., on home gardens, than for large commercial properties. Roundup is also highly available at many stores and is sold without the need of a pesticide license, making exposure easier to prove. Eligible claimants must still report where they purchased Roundup, store name and address. Pursuing the actual store and its physical location, rather than just a type of store, helps ensure a valid claim.

• The gender breakdown of signed Roundup cases handled by our team is roughly 60% men and 40% women. This could correlate with the fact that men have a slightly higher risk of developing NHL than do women, or it may be that men are being exposed more through their activities.

The Legal Calls Advantage - how we're different

• We know what really matters to you is the cost per compensable case.
• Our fraud detection department is second to none.
• Need medical records? Just ask.
• Non-incentivized intake agents! Most case originators pay a bonus to their agents on signing, which leads to signing unqualified claimants.
• We conduct in-depth interviews by asking open-ended non-leading questions, like an attorney would do.

Click here to book a call

The primary qualifying diagnosis for Roundup claims is Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, along with many subtypes of this cancer. A list of the subtypes is below. Notably, the subtype Multiple Myeloma is a DISQUALIFYING diagnosis.

A thorough and well defined screening process is the key to weeding out those who do not qualify or are just looking for a payout from a highly publicized case.

Craig H. Alinder, Vice President

Office: 802-664-4201 | Email: craig@legalcalls.com

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