Merlin The Moose is a client favorite at the Chicago Merlin Law Group office. We won him at a charity auction last year. He also led me to some creative research uncovering a problem with market conduct studies and the transparency of property insurance claims procedures many insurers keep hidden from their customers and insurance … Continue Reading
In a recent op-ed article published in the Star Ledger, Rutgers Law Professor Jay Feinman debunked the myth that insurance companies have been using for decades to prevent good faith claims handling bills from passing through the legislature. As Feinman noted, insurance companies argue that the Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA) is unnecessary and would … Continue Reading
Insurance companies routinely argue for immunity from their wrongful actions because acts of their customers are not perfect following a loss. Policyholders are not claims specialists. Policyholders generally are not in the insurance claims business much less the civil litigation business which the insurance industry is the number one participant by far.… Continue Reading
Unlike many other jurisdictions, under Kansas law, an aggrieved insured cannot file a lawsuit against its insurer for “bad faith” as it is not a recognized tort in first-party claims.1 Note that Kansas still recognizes “bad faith” in the third-party context.2… Continue Reading
As we have toured around the country, we have seen states that are very protective of policyholders through extensive claim handling guidelines. Others have very few regulations. While Connecticut has a statute barring unfair claims practices, it is actually an example of the latter.… Continue Reading
Insurance Companies can breach the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by failing to pursue adjustment of the claim with reasonable diligence. This means that both insured and insurance companies must pay close attention to the company’s diligence (or lack thereof) in handling a claim.… Continue Reading
Enservio’s director of training, Scott Petlewski, wrote an article Establishing Value on Contents Claims: 3 Bad Habits to Break, which demonstrates that proper contents adjustment is hard work. It can be time consuming, expensive from a labor standpoint, and fraught with error.… Continue Reading
My older son Mason (who will be four years old this December) is learning about the Golden Rule in his preschool class. It got me thinking about whether claims people believe there is a place for the Golden Rule in claims adjusting? Can you honestly sit and reflect on claims you handle and state definitively … Continue Reading
All estimates of damage, including draft estimates of damage made by adjusters, have been ordered to be produced in a Superstorm Sandy flood damage case.1 Typically, insurance company flood attorneys have made the same arguments they made regarding drafts of engineering reports—“We and our clients do not have them, judge."… Continue Reading
The title to this blog probably has many insurance claims managers saying under their breath, ‘No joke, Chip. Tell me something I was not taught on the first week of the job I have been doing for my adult life.’ But, what happens when things go wrong and those undisputed benefits do not get paid—can … Continue Reading
Insurance adjusters are taught to investigate coverage and evaluate damage. Good faith performance requires that this be done in a prompt, thorough, and honest manner. Most adjusters are taught to document what they see in the field through photographs, video, and the collection of evidence. Good faith also requires that the adjusters undertaking this important … Continue Reading
The debate over what evidence should be admitted in a breach of contract case has raged on for many years. Policyholders typically argue that evidence of an improper investigation should be admitted as impeachment evidence, while insurance companies insist that the way a claim was handled has no bearing on the ultimate issue: was the … Continue Reading
Water loss claims are often wrongfully adjusted because the insurance adjusters does not fully investigate the loss. Damage that is hidden behind walls, roofs, ceiling and floor can be detected by using tools that are made for finding water and moisture in these areas.… Continue Reading
Most policyholder advocates have made it up to New Jersey or another jurisdiction affected by Superstorm Sandy over the last year. Recently, I was in Atlantic City fighting over coverage for one of my clients whose carrier truly missed the boat. The purpose of the visit was to allow the carrier the opportunity to have … Continue Reading
Contents claims adjusting is a hard and tedious job. Few insurance companies conduct a prompt investigation and evaluation of contents losses even though they may be evaluating the real property damage. It is probably the most ripe and overlooked arena for unfair claims practice conduct by insurance companies on typical claims.… Continue Reading
Many policyholders were unable to get through to their insurers in the wake of Super-Storm Sandy, while others’ claims have been denied by insurers that never even sent a representative to the damaged property. Is it unreasonable for insurers to handle claims in that fashion, and does your property insurer owe you a duty of … Continue Reading
Virtually every aspect of insurance involves the public trust. The insurance industry does not disagree. This was a point we made in an amicus brief filed in Jacobsen vs. Allstate Insurance Company, a case pending before the Montana Supreme Court.… Continue Reading
Commercial policyholders are increasingly having difficulty obtaining full and prompt payments. As a group, they are starting to stand up to the insurance industry’s failures to provide prompt payment and good faith claims treatment following losses.… Continue Reading
Insurance policies contain words that become ambiguous as technology and building practices change, causing good faith disputes over coverage to arise. While a good faith dispute over coverage does not constitute bad faith, one court suggested that an insurance company can be liable for bad faith if it fails to fairly treat its policyholders during … Continue Reading
Insurance contractors who write estimates for insurance companies with which they have close relationships have a conflict of interest. When contractors are not in league with insurers and they are making truly independent estimates they expect to complete without change orders, I find that the estimates are much higher and more liberal than when a … Continue Reading
Late last year, Colorado’s appeals court determined that insurers have a good faith duty to communicate– not only with the insured, but also with anyone it was reasonably aware legitimately needed information pertaining to the handling of an insured’s claim.… Continue Reading
It is the time of the year when I reflect on my performance over the past year and set new goals for 2012. I also find myself studying trends in insurance to help anticipate how they may impact my legal practice and clients. While doing this, I came across an excellent study in a comparative … Continue Reading
Claims practice experts can help explain why the conduct of an insurer is tantamount to "bad faith." As explained by Vivian Persand in Getting the Inside Scoop on Insurance Company Claims Practices, a good claims practice expert can help a policyholder attorney. Eventually, the same expert will write a report containing the findings and opinions … Continue Reading
