Two principal questions serve to illustrate the financial issues that may confront carriers in handling a first-party claim. First, so-called time element losses such as business interruption, loss of use, and additional living expense claims highlight the importance of understanding the insured’s on-going operations for purposes of evaluating the value of a loss.
Second, a discussion of questionable or even fraudulent claims illustrates how a complete understanding of the insured’s finances can identify red flags and, potentially, proof that the insured has overstated their claim or had a motive to commit arson or stage the theft of goods, services, and materials related to their business. We begin, therefore, with a discussion of those two issues as they arise under common first-party claim situations. Read more.
