Andrew Sall The Business Interruption Guy Episode 709 This week we welcomed Andy Sall of Complex Claims Resolution, LLC for a show on Business Interruption. What would happen to your business if there was a fire, flood or cyber attack that wiped out yo…

“By investigating a case aggressively at the outset, it was often possible to have a developed factual matter for analysis within 90 days, maybe as long as 6 months, depending on the cooperation of any third‑party claimant and other sources of information. By having that development, one could set accurate reserves earlier. The insurer would know where it stood, and actuaries could also have access to that data and reassess a particular book of business or a particular program to see how profitable it may be over time and make adjustments, rather than canceling a program as unprofitable, should development and accurate reserve setting take longer, such as years versus months. Another important function was the interaction between claims handlers and underwriters. The two go hand in hand. Underwriters have a certain view of the world and ways they want to approach coverage, but it’s the claims people who must handle the result and keep up to date with the latest case law affecting liability and/or coverage. Such teamwork results in tighter and more successful programs including decisions as to whether or not policy language needs to be changed or the need to add additional exclusions based on developing appellate decisions that might create new perils. That level of communication was important, especially for innovative insurance companies. Where the intent is to cover something as communicated to the applicant, the claim department might not be aware of it, resulting in a claim denial.”

As an agency owner I was unfamiliar with the role of a Public Adjuster, what they did and their purpose in the insurance equation. Upon selling my agencies, I was approached by a company to consider assisting them as a Public Adjuster. All of these yea…

“An insurer’s knee-jerk denial letter cannot be saved from triggering the penalties [of bad faith] merely because the insurer’s lawyer is able to construct a post-hoc justification for denying coverage. “[I]nsurers that unreasonably delay the evaluation of the insureds’ claims [can be found liable for bad faith], even if the insurer’s ultimate assessment of the claim proves to be correct ‘”Holding otherwise could potentially result in insurers taking the gamble that a denial based on a cursory review will be rescued by a clever trial lawyer.”

(From the Summer 2022 issue of CPCU INSIGHTS…)

MANDY CONNELL: We are dealing with significant brush fires, we’re going to have a really bad fire season, we have that here in Colorado and I thought it would be timely to bring someone on to talk about what a homeowner should do before the possibility of disaster strikes because we’re in a situation if a brush fire pops up near your home when you are at work you may not be able to go home again depending on the severity of the fire and its movements and things of that nature, so what kind of guidance can you give us in terms of preparing for a natural disaster before it happens? DAVID STEGALL: The best thing to do is it go through your mind and imagine that it’s already happening. You want to have a plan before you have to deal with it, and the Colorado authorities, the national forest service and there is a number of things, has all sorts of things on their websites as to the best way to protect your property from a physical standpoint, but the best thing to do from an insurance standpoint is to make sure you’re “insured to value” which means that you have enough insurance on your house to pay for it when it burns down and this is a serious problem, this is where more of acrimony between policyholders and insurance companies happen on any other issue, it’s the value of the dwelling and a lot of people are confused on this issue. They think “oh well the mortgage company told me I have a mortgage of a $180,000 and so that’s what I want the insurance for.

Dad Faith: Breaching the usual and customary practices of, and/or failing to maintain the standards of care required by, the insurance (and Risk Management) industry based on the concept of “Utmost Good-Faith”

Maintaining client relationships is critical for insurance brokers and agencies, especially given the fact that developing new commercial clients involves a significant time investment to understand the client’s business and risks and to implement solutions for risk transfer. Once insurance coverage is in place and policies are issued, the focus of the agency switches to servicing the account. The agency is happy. The client is happy. But what happens when your client experiences a significant property loss?

Preparing business interruption claims takes thoughtful planning and insightful analysis, clearly communicated to all of the parties involved in the claims process. One of the most important factors is the breadth and depth of analyzing relevant financial information related to interrupted business operations. Although this may seem like an intuitive step, there is often a gap between the internally prepared financial information and the analysis to determine lost profits. Application of due diligence results in a smooth claim process, quicker payment from the insurer and a fair and equitable recovery.

THE CLAIMS JOURNAL interviewed AAIMCo member Kevin Quinley on claim ramifications of the 2018 Keodalah v. Allstate decision, allowing adjusters to be added as individual defendants in bad faith lawsuits.

“To the uninformed, “a claim is a claim is a claim.” To some extent this is true. Any type of liability claim requires proof that the insured owed a duty to another person or entity, that the insured breached this duty, and that the breach was the proximate cause of quantitatively measurable damages suffered by the person or entity to whom the duty was owed. Thereafter, it becomes a matter of determining whether or not there are any defenses such as comparative or contributory negligence on the part of the claimant. Finally, there is the question of coverage—the issue of whether or not the policy will respond to the claim. …. There are significant differences between managing professional liability claims, compared to those arising out of more standardized coverages. …”

The claims audit is the anathema of day-to-day claim operations. Nothing is more disruptive. Yet, if properly defined, nothing is more informative and helpful in improving a claim management program. This article will examine the need for a regular auditing program and provide a recipe for a three-dimensional approach to the process in order to maximize the accuracy of the audit results. The need to conduct regular claims audits has already been widely discussed. With the magnitude of self-insured claims programs (including self-funded programs) and the millions of dollars spent on claim administration fees, what better way to verify whether the money spent has been justified or wasted? In essence, an audit of closed and open claims should accomplish several things.

Kevin extracts insights from HBO’s popular series and sees implications for how claim professionals approach the challenges in their work.

I was often amazed at what I could only discern as an argument by a Plaintiff’s attorney concerning an insurance claim where he had never bothered to read the policy or have a true of understanding of insurance.

Corporate Counsel is not properly the attorney to specifically respond for the Insurance Company to a suit against the Insurance Company.

If learning is not part of the process, and all that an insurance company is interested in is a decision, any decision, no matter how subjective, then insurers need to have an intercompany coin toss agreement.

On the one hand Insurance Companies invest a lot of money parcing court dicta to discover what the policy might have said in order to change the outcome of the decision, yet on the other hand believes the trial is some sort of Wild West side show and must be avoided at all costs

It appears that the recent change in The State of Michigan workers compensation act extends Michigan’s jurisdiction to all Michigan Residents no matter where in the US (or the World) the resident is hired, works or is injured.

For plaintiff lawyers, discovering what reinsurance has been purchased will not get you directly into the pocket of the reinsurer, but it will give you insights into what the insurance company was thinking as it handled your client’s claim.