Barry Zalma’s Insurance Claims Library
Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE
Insurance claims expert, consultant at Barry Zalma, Inc. and author/Publisher at ClaimSchool, Inc.
Posted on November 18, 2020 by Barry Zalma
Everything Needed by the Insurance Claims Professional from Barry Zalma
The Law of Unintended Consequences and the Tort of Bad Faith
The concept of unintended consequences is one of the building blocks of economics. Adam Smith’s “invisible hand,” the most famous metaphor in social science, is an example of a positive unintended consequence.
Most often, however, the law of unintended consequences illuminates the perverse unanticipated effects of legislation and regulation. In 1692 the English philosopher John Locke, a forerunner of modern economists, urged the defeat of a parliamentary bill desi
gned to cut the maximum permissible rate of interest from 6 percent to 4 percent. Insurance is controlled by the courts, through appellate decisions, and by governmental agencies, through statute and regulation. Compliance with the appellate decisions, statutes, and regulations—different in the various states—is exceedingly difficult and expensive.
The business of insurance is, unfortunately, subject to the law of unintended consequences as if it were on steroids.
Insurance Fraud – Volume I & Volume II
In Two Volumes
Insurance fraud continually takes more money each year than it did the last from the insurance buying public. No one knows the actual amount with any certainty because most attempts at insurance fraud succeed. Estimates of the extent of insurance fraud in the United States range from $87 billion to more than $300 billion every year.
Insurers and government backed pseudo-insurers can only estimate the extent they lose to fraudulent claims. Lack of sufficient investigation and prosecution of insurance criminals is endemic. Most insurance fraud criminals are not detected. Those that are detected do
so because they became greedy, sloppy and unprofessional so that the attempted fraud becomes so obvious it cannot be ignored.
No one will ever be able to place an exact number on the amount lost to insurance fraud. Everyone who has looked at the issue knows – whether based on their heart, their gut or empirical fact determined from convictions for the crime of insurance fraud – that the number is enormous.
When insurers and governments put on a serious effort to reduce the amount of insurance fraud the number of claims presented to insurers and the pseudo-government-based or funded insurers drops logarithmically. Since the appointment of Attorney General Sessions, the effort to stop insurance fraud against Medicare and Medicaid has increased.
This book contains appellate decisions regarding insurance fraud from federal and state appellate courts across the country and full text of many insurance fraud statutes.
It is available as both a legal research tool and a product to assist insurers, insurance company personnel, independent insurance adjusters, special investigation unit investigators, state fraud investigators and insurance lawyers to become effective persons involved in the attempt to defeat or reduce the effect of insurance fraud.
Volume One available as a Kindle book and a paperback.
Volume Two Available as a Kindle book and a paperback
The Compact Book of Adjusting Property Insurance Claims – Second Edition
A Manual for the First Party Property Insurance Adjuster
The insurance adjuster is not mentioned in a policy of insurance. The obligation to investigate and prove a claim falls on the insured. Standard first party property insurance policies, based upon the New York Standard Fire Insurance policy, contain conditions that require the insured to, within sixty days of the loss, submit a sworn proof of loss to prove to the insurer the facts and amount of loss.
The policy allows the insurer to then, and only then, respond to the insured’s proof of loss. The insurer can then either accept or reject the proof submitted by the insured.
Technically, if the wording of the policy was followed literally the insurer could sit back, do nothing, and wait for the proof. If the insured was late in submitting the proof the insurer could reject the claim. If the insured submits a timely proof of loss the insurer could either accept or reject the proof of loss. If the insurer rejected the proof of loss the insured could either send a new one or give up and gain nothing from the claim. Suit on the policy would be difficult because the policy contract limited the right to sue to times when the proof of loss condition had been met.
Insureds and insurers were not happy with that system. It made it too difficult for a lay person to successfully present a claim. The system, as written into the standard fire policy seemed to run counter to the covenant of good faith and fair dealing that had been the basis of the insurance contract for centuries. Most insurers understood that their insureds were mostly incapable of complying with the strict enforcement of the policy conditions. To fulfill the covenant of good faith and fair dealing insurers created the insurance adjuster to fulfill its obligation to deal fairly and in good faith with the insured.
The Second edition adds new material from 2018 and 2019, is easier to use and more compact than the original.
The Compact Book on Adjusting Liability Claims, Second Edition
A Handbook for the Liability Claims Adjuster
This Compact Book of Adjusting Liability Claims is designed to provide the new adjuster with a basic grounding in what is needed to become a competent and effective insurance adjuster. It is also available as a refresher for the experienced adjuster.
The liability claims adjuster quickly learns that there is little difficulty with a claimant (the person alleging bodily injury or property damage against a person insured) if the claim is paid as demanded. The insured may be unhappy if the claimant’s claim is paid as presented since most do not believe they did anything wrong or fear an increase in premiums charged for subsequent policies.
The adjuster must be prepared to salve the insured’s emotions, explain why in the law and the policy it was appropriate to pay the claimant and that the settlement is in the best interest of both the insured and the insurer the adjuster represents.
The adjuster knows, and must be prepared to explain to an insured, that if a claim is resisted or denied the claimant will be unhappy, will probably file suit. If not promptly settled the claimant’s lawyers will rake the insured over the coals to prove that the insured is liable for the claimant’s injuries. The litigation will take time, effort, and money to establish the extent of the injuries and who is responsible for the injuries. Failure to settle promptly can cost the insured his or her reputation and will certainly cost the insurer much more than the claim could have been resolved for had it been resolved before the claimant retained a lawyer.
? 2020 – Barry Zalma
Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, now limits his practice to service as an insurance consultant specializing in insurance coverage, insurance claims handling, insurance bad faith and insurance fraud almost equally for insurers and policyholders. He also serves as an arbitrator or mediator for insurance related disputes. He practiced law in California for more than 44 years as an insurance coverage and claims handling lawyer and more than 52 years in the insurance business. He is available at https://www.zalma.com and [email protected].
Mr. Zalma is the first recipient of the first annual Claims Magazine/ACE Legend Award.
Over the last 52 years Barry Zalma has dedicated his life to insurance, insurance claims and the need to defeat insurance fraud. He has created the following library of books and other materials to make it possible for insurers and their claims staff to become insurance claims professionals.
https://zalma.com/zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter-2/Read last two issues of ZIFL here.
Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921
Read posts from Barry Zalma at https://parler.com/profile/Zalma/posts
Listen to the Podcast: Zalma on Insurance https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episodesZalma on Insurance
Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg/
Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/