There's no doubt that recent years have seen a rise of jury awards across the tort claim spectrum, a trend that's rattling insurers to the core.

Lawyers and insurance executives say the surge of multimillion-dollar awards reflects the plaintiffs bar's systematic approach to generating revenue.

"They discovered that instead of blaming the individual driver, they could blame the employer or company [by saying] he was overworked or insufficiently trained or something," said Jim Lynch, chief actuary and senior vice president of Insurance Information Institute, a national industry association based in New York.