Handling Claims Professionally Is Handling Claims In Good Faith—Unprofessional Claims Conduct May Land You With Bad Faith Litigation

By John Armstrong

Claims adjusters today are more competent and better trained than ever. I have had the privilege of lecturing and meeting claims adjusters throughout the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain. Contrary to the opinions of the plaintiff bar, most of them are caring, hard working individuals who want to be fair and do the right thing. So why do we hear so much about insurance “bad faith”? Well…. the professionalism is a mixed bag. Those who have more knowledge, skill, and training, are expected to act like of person of more knowledge, skill, and training. This is especially true if you have “alphabet soup” letters following your name or title regarding all the insurance certifications you’ve obtained.

Let me give you an example to show what I’m talking about. Let’s say you get in a claim. You (especially having read one of my earlier posts) see what coverages the insured has. You determine that the claim is probably not covered under the liability policy but probably is covered under a property policy the insured bought at the same time from your company.

You could deny the claim, but that’s a bad idea for reasons I’ll discuss shortly. Or, you could let the insured know your company is still “reviewing” coverage, and send the claim the company’s property adjuster for review, indicating that you’re inclined to deny under the general liability policy. Why? Because from the insured’s, the court’s, the jury’s, and the rest of the world’s point of you, the tender is to the entire insurance company. This is especially true for insurers insuring insureds in California (say that 3 times fast), since the legal standard is that the insurer is to engage in searching inquiry to find coverage. Put simply, you represent your entire company, not just the kinds of policies the company assigned you to adjust. But don’t panic. You don’t need to be an expert in lines your not certified in. You just need to communicate to the insured that the company is still reviewing coverage until the appropriate lines of coverage that might be affected have all had a chance to review and assess the claim.

Why not deny? Well, besides getting hit with a suit for bad faith—which is going to be difficult to defend if the company did insure the claim but just not under the policy you were examining, the insured may be able to recover pre-tender costs and fees that otherwise would not be recoverable.

California cases hold that an insurer who wrongfully denies a claim that the insurer covered buys the entire loss—even if the insurer decides to later cover the claim. Why? Because the California courts adopt the reasoning that if the insured had tendered immediately, the claim would have been denied then anyway. Thus, you not only avoid a bad faith claim, you also minimize the company’s risk by not outright denying the claim.

And, think about it from the insured’s perspective. If you “find” coverage for the insured, insureds don’t care which policy covers the claim with your company only that the claim is covered. They have a great experience and say good things about your company to others, and business grows. If, for whatever reason, the company were sued for bad faith, don’t you think the judge and jury would be impressed at your zeal to help the insured get coverage? Being professional pays good faith dividends.