Auto claims
adjusters experience work-related emotional stress due to the nature of their work.
This bulletin is in effect until further notice, and the state is referring interested
adjusters to its website for further information.
The NYPIAA holds that most public
adjusters in New York are well trained professionals who are experts in claim presentation, issues of coverage and construction.
A public
adjuster acts on behalf of the insured in negotiating or settling a property claim for compensation.
The Florida public
adjusters at The Public
Adjusters say the majority of property owners they work with every day are unaware they even have any responsibilities under their insurance policy.
He said that if the bill did pass, public
adjusters would need to be regulated.
A contractor can clean the smoke off of the surface of the sheetrock, but a public
adjuster will point out to the insurance company that the smoke odor will never come out of the insulation of the sheetrock, and therefore the sheetrock needs to be replaced.
Still, the audit findings could provide ammunition for another legislative battle between public
adjusters and the insurance industry.
That is not to say that all, or even a large percentage, of public
adjusters used these tactics.
Hurricane Katrina stretched the
adjuster pool to its limits, and put a spotlight on the differences between
adjusters employed by insurance companies versus independent adjusting firms.
When you finally get through to the
adjuster who is handling the claim, you are exasperated by fruitless settlement negotiations because the
adjuster will not budge from an unreasonably low offer.
In addition to the company's corporate accounting department or CPA firm, players assembled or waiting in the wings should include in-house counsel or the company's outside law firm, forensic consultants, insurance
adjusters (even for self-insured losses which must be "adjusted" for accounting and tax purposes) and experienced recovery counsel who can lead the team's overall efforts.
