The Independent Insurance Claim Adjuster Resource

Hey all you independent adjusters, claim reps, public adjusters and insurance attorneys!  Here’s a serious situation for you to ponder and comment on.  We would be delighted to receive your input on this situation:

A mess of tree limbs located within the lines of an insured-rental property falls and lands almost exclusively onto a parked vehicle in the public right of way.  The roof of the vehicle has been crushed in and the windows are broken with damages estimated at $13,000, therefore the vehicle is non-operable.  You are assigned the claim and learn the following: Read more…

December 28th, 2010

It was widely report that a Maine ski lift failed causing injury to three or more riders this morning, at the SugerLoaf Mountain resort near Carrabassett Valley, Maine.  According to eye witness reports, the chairs were approximately 20 to 40 feet above the ground.  The extent of injuries is not known at this time but is suspected broken bones are involved.  Over 80 other riders were stranded on the lift awaiting rescue.  Rumors have circulated the that only method for rescuing the stranded riders is to provide a rope for them to escape with.  It is highly unlikely that any type of ladder equipped vehicle would be able to navigate the steep snowy mountain side.

SugarLoaf Ski Lift Incident

From an insurance claim perspective there is little doubt that the resort will be able to object to Read more…

Late last week a contractor using the name Tim Arnold commented and and ultimately asked the ever important question, “why?”, with regard to our recommendation that insureds obtain three estimates from potential contractors. Maybe Tim will become the world’s most popular roofing contractor after this post but we’ll just have to wait and see. After all, he did manage to get us to produce a full post on the subject. The question grew from a post and other comments on the subject of Roofing Contractors Advertising as Insurance Adjusters, where one comment recommended obtaining multiple estimates.  Special thanks to Tim for inspiring this post and giving us an opportunity to expose dirt on some contractors, although we won’t mention any names…yet.

Tim partially answered his own question by stating “I understand the need for Read more…

Between late nights in the office, missing cargo, and property appraisals, I can occasionally be found mudding through the piles of resumes that end up on my desk.  It’s not that my office is looking to expand, but rather I feel compelled to send a quick email to the folks who submit them letting them know it was received and that we’ll keep in on file.  It never hurts to give someone hope who’s entering somewhat of a closed door type business; it’s not like we have applications laying around to be filled out.  Conversely, there might be a really well qualified candidate in one of our sub-markets who’s interesting in freelancing.

I once heard that the best weapon an attorney has are writing skills.   This rings true for more than one profession though and independent claim professionals are no exception.  I’ve personally seen insurers loose scores of cases because an adjuster or claim representative worded something poorly. All to often we forget the subtle differences and nuances of the English language; which is amplified to the Nth degree in litigation. Read more…