Mr. Bronchick and Mr. Sutton Please Advise - Posted by Jimmy

import · February 18, 2004, 2:41pm

Posted by Bob on February 28, 2004 at 14:57:23:

>A claim for $3000 in water damage to a home is not the same thing as seeking indemnity
>for a $500,000 lawsuit

If an insurance company will drop your for merely inquiring about your coverage for water damage, I’m quite sure they’ll drop you for reporting a purported incident on your property. Maybe you should report anyway, but doing the right thing will hardly make you happier if you get dropped. Insurance companies don’t see themselves as being in the business of providing service of any kind to their customers, if the sleazy and unethical way nearly all of them do business is any indication.

import · February 18, 2004, 2:41pm

Mr. Bronchick and Mr. Sutton Please Advise - Posted by Jimmy

Posted by Jimmy on February 18, 2004 at 15:41:02:

I have a rental house and my renter fell down the steps and said she felt as if she had a concussion. She went to the emergency room and got painkillers and is fine (assuming). I will pay for her medications and emergency room visit, so I do not have to claim it on my insurance.

Can she come back after 3 years and claim something else?

My insurance agent said if I claim it they take care of it forever. If I don?t claim within 3 years I would be on my own if that person wanted to file against me after 3 years.

If I put this property into a separate LLC ?ABC? before I pay her bill and do not claim it on insurance and she tries to sue me will my newly created ?ABC? LLC be the only asset at risk.
Also at this point I will put all other assets in LLC?s. Will they be protected against any suit she might claim?

import · February 26, 2004, 6:48pm

Ugly sequel to not making claim - Posted by John Merchant

Posted by John Merchant on February 26, 2004 at 19:48:26:

Having tried a lot of PI cases, for the Plaintiff, I’ll tell you that you’re making a BIG mistake if you don’t report every incident like this asap.

If you don’t, and then you’re sued, your insurance co. will likely claim a “policy defense” and will NOT pay any damages assessed against you.

I’ve tried a lot of cases where this happened, and, while the insurance co. did provide a good lawyer to defend their insured, they let me know that they were defending on a “non-waiver” basis and would NOT be paying any money for damages, no matter what the jury might find.

I well remember one of these, against a small contractor, and the jury found him liable for about $100,000, and a few days after the Judgment was entered, he called and made an appointment and came into my office. He told me he was trying to settle his own case at that point and proceeded to produce a cashiers’ check for $75,000, which he’d borrowed from his banker.

Knowing that this was indeed about all this guy could do, I advised my client to take it and we did settle the case.

The point is, the poor contractor, who would otherwise have been completely protected by his liability insurance company, had to come up with his own money…because he had not reported the claim to his own company when my client got hurt.

That failure to report cost the contractor Defendant a bunch of money.

You don’t want that to happen to you.

import · February 18, 2004, 3:59pm

Is this a trick question? - Posted by Bill Bronchick

Posted by Bill Bronchick on February 18, 2004 at 16:59:30:

You would be INSANE to not report this to your insurance company. She could absolutely sue you later, and if you don’t report it now, the insurance company will disclaim coverage later for not reporting it timely. This is exactly the kind of case that insurance covers - use your insurance.

import · February 18, 2004, 6:36pm

No Trick - Posted by Jimmy

Posted by Jimmy on February 18, 2004 at 19:36:41:

This is not a trick question and thanks for the advise. My agent told me I had 3 years to file a claim. I will file tommorrow. The thing is I have no blemishes on my record and did not want to tarnish it.

import · February 18, 2004, 8:40pm

Re: No Trick - Posted by William Bronchick

Posted by William Bronchick on February 18, 2004 at 21:40:51:

You agent is nuts. Read you insurance policy - it says they can disclaim coverage if you don’t report it timely. The reason is that they need the opportunity to investigate the facts asap and prepare a possible defense to any claims.

import · February 19, 2004, 2:32am

Re: No Trick - Posted by Frank Chin

Posted by Frank Chin on February 19, 2004 at 03:32:30:

Bill:

I have a claim right now at my biz where the customer claimed he fell, and the insurance company claimed that I didn’t report it on a timely basis - 30 days according to a letter they sent me, with the relevant page and section of the policy highlighted in yellow on an attachment.

I have liability coverage, with a $1,000 deductable per incident, and in the past year, I have several cases where customers claimed their cars were scratched up, and we got things fixed all under the deductable limit. I didn’t file any claims.

When the customer who fell came in, he said its only fair that we cover his doctors bill for the examination and a followup visit. I said “OK -bring us the bill, and we’ll see”. Then, I didn’t see him for two months and thought he forgot about it.

Well, he came back with abill for $2,600, where he visited a chiropractor every day for a month, and every other day for the next month. So I filed a claim with the insurance company a little over 60 days.

The insurance company said that because I was not timely in notifying them, they lost the chance to check the customer out early on. The letter said they reserve the right not to pay the claim should the investigation show that the delay jeopardize the investigation.

Thinking back, the guy is a fraudster, because I overheard him talking to other customers before about bringing others to small claim.

I guess in the case of a fall, or personal injury, the better thing is just file the claim. In the case of scratch and dents, I can determine quickly what the damages are and not file a claim.

In fact, I just fixed a scratched car for costing us $264, even though we strongly suspected the owner of the business next store did it as the customer blocked his driveway. We were told by his workers that he was in the habit of doing this, and we plan to install security cameras to keep an eye on things.

Frank Chin

import · February 19, 2004, 8:49am

Case in point! - Posted by William Bronchick

Posted by William Bronchick on February 19, 2004 at 09:49:51:

My first job out of law school was working for a firm that did
insurance litigation and defense. Every day I saw cases just like
these - people who were afraid to report an incident that could
potentially lead to a lawsuit, then later being denied coverage
when they were sued. The sad part was that most of the claims
ended up being bogus, but the defendant had to pay his laywer to
defend. Had he just reported the incident, he would have had a
free lawyer.

import · February 19, 2004, 10:22am

Aren’t Reports and Claims Different. - Posted by Dave

Posted by Dave on February 19, 2004 at 11:22:36:

Bill,

I was in a parking lot fender bender the other day and reported it to my insurance company…but never made a claim.

I’m thinking there’s no down-side to reporting, only the up-side you mentioned. Is this correct?

Seems like you can report everything, never make a claim and they won’t increase or cancel your policy.

And, an added benefit to reporting is that they can run interference between me and the other guy, saving me the hassle.

Dave

import · February 19, 2004, 9:40am

Re: Case in point! - Posted by Bob

Posted by Bob on February 19, 2004 at 10:40:47:

>The sad part was that most of the claims ended up being
>bogus, but the defendant had to pay his laywer to defend.
>Had he just reported the incident, he would have had a
>free lawyer.

Don’t report the claim, possibly pay for a lawyer if they decide to continue their fraud. Report the claim, get instantly dropped by your insurance carrier (as quite a few people have said is their experience these days, even on a first claim). What would you choose?

import · February 28, 2004, 1:46pm

Re: Aren’t Reports and Claims Different. - Posted by Bob

Posted by Bob on February 28, 2004 at 14:46:11:

>Seems like you can report everything, never make a claim and they won’t increase or cancel your policy.

Actually, I’ve met people who were dropped precisely because they reported incidents, even though no claim was filed and there was no litigation. Insurance companies these days want no risk, 100% profit from your premiums. What are you going to do, sue them? They’ve got bigger, badder lawyers than you do.

import · February 19, 2004, 10:47am

Re: Aren’t Reports and Claims Different. - Posted by Bill Bronchick

Posted by Bill Bronchick on February 19, 2004 at 11:47:41:

You’re talking about two different things. A claim for indemnity is different than a claim for loss (as in the case of your fender bender).

import · February 19, 2004, 9:57am

FAKE EMAIL - DUMB ANALYSIS - Posted by William Bronchick

Posted by William Bronchick on February 19, 2004 at 10:57:52:

You will not get instantly dropped from your insurance for having
a claim.

import · April 27, 2004, 4:36am

Re: FAKE EMAIL - DUMB ANALYSIS - Posted by gamli

Posted by gamli on April 27, 2004 at 04:36:52:

check

import · February 20, 2004, 12:49pm

Re: Smart DUMB ANALYSIS - Posted by garth

Posted by garth on February 20, 2004 at 13:49:17:

You may think it dumb but I read reports about this but I think it was related to homeowners activating loss claims.

Some it was reported were dropped for even making an inquiry to the insurer.

Perhaps this is not the same thing hopefully your legal skills could help us to distinguish if we
are talking about the SAME thing.

I think this is the smart way to resolve this.

import · February 20, 2004, 1:01pm

Re: Smart DUMB ANALYSIS - Posted by Bill Bronchick

Posted by Bill Bronchick on February 20, 2004 at 14:01:52:

A claim for $3000 in water damage to a home is not the same thing as seeking indemnity for a $500,000 lawsuit. You are not going to get dropped for seeking indemnity on a claim. The risks are WAY TOO HIGH to even take a chance on saving a few hundred bucks a year vs. being hit with a major league lawsuit.