This 1997 book by Peter A. Bell and Jeffrey O’Connell sadly remains relevant.
From Chapter 5:
It was Learned Hand, the greatest American judge not to make it to the U.S. Supreme Court, who once wrote, “After now some dozen years of experience [as a judge], I must say that as a litigant I should dread a lawsuit beyond almost anything else short of sickness and death.” (page 131)
Society requires the insurance company to pay for and defend the wrongdoer because the insurer and wrongdoer made a contract requiring just such payment and defense. If society thought such contracts wrong, they could be ruled invalid as against public ;policy – which is what some courts have ruled with respect to insurance against punitive damage awards. (page 132)
Actually, more than 95 percent of all tort settlements and judgments are borne not by individuals but by insurance companies or large corporations that self-insure. (page 133)