{"id":96,"date":"2016-12-13T16:42:56","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T16:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rm73v2idht.onrocket.site\/?p=96"},"modified":"2022-11-22T18:49:51","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T18:49:51","slug":"tips-on-reporting-claims-and-potential-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/?p=96","title":{"rendered":"Tips on reporting claims and potential claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

When insureds report a claim to their carrier, the expectation is the claim will be covered and their assets and reputation be protected.\u00a0 While this happens the majority of the time, there are situations when the worst occurs and the claim is denied coverage.\u00a0 There are several reasons insurance carriers decline coverage on reported professional liability claims. \u00a0One of the reasons claims are denied is due to the late reporting of the claim.\u00a0 Although late reporting is a cause for claim denial, it can be avoided by the insured.<\/p>\n

Professional liability insurance policies require that all claims be reported in the policy period that the insured first becomes aware of the claim.\u00a0 This is also true for potential claims.\u00a0 Most carriers have wording in the policy that states the insured needs to report those incidents that the insured could reasonably foresee the incident may lead to claim.\u00a0 Failure to report these potential claims may lead to a denial in coverage.<\/p>\n

\"AttorneyAtWindow\"<\/a>It sounds easy and it should be easy for the firm to report claims and potential claims as soon as they are aware of them.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it is never easy.\u00a0 No firm wants to \u201cthink\u201d they made a mistake or a client is unhappy with their services.\u00a0 In addition, some insureds think that the mere reporting of a claim or potential claim will increase their insurance premium, so the claim goes unreported.\u00a0 Not true.\u00a0 The mere reporting of a single claim or potential claim does not necessarily increase your premium.<\/p>\n

Bottom line\u2026you pay a lot of money to secure the policy, don\u2019t jeopardize the coverage when you need it most.\u00a0 Report issues early.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Perhaps the tips below will help you make sure your claim or potential claim is reported in a timely fashion:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Meet monthly with your staff\/lawyers to review the \u201ctough\u201d cases.<\/li>\n
  2. Encourage your staff\/lawyers to bring problem cases to your attention.\u00a0 Don\u2019t punish.<\/li>\n
  3. At renewal time, ask all lawyers in the firm to answer the potential claim and claim question on the renewal application. Have them sign and date it.<\/li>\n
  4. Most carriers now have a claim hot line or help line that is available to insureds.\u00a0 Use it.<\/li>\n
  5. Make sure that your staff\/lawyers know how the insurance policy works and that claims and potential claims need to be reported immediately or they risk losing coverage.\u00a0 Identify a point \u201cclaims person.\u201d\u00a0 Have all claims and potential claims directed to that person for review and reporting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When insureds report a claim to their carrier, the expectation is the claim will be covered and their assets and reputation be protected.\u00a0 While this happens the majority of the time, there are situations when the worst occurs and the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-claims","category-legal-malpractice-insurance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99,"href":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/99"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.integrityfirstins.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}