Underwriters have no part in the claims process. The insurance company financial type is replaced by a series of claims people with 30 years of what they believe to be experience in protecting the insurance company from cheats and chiselers, and an equal period of experience in protecting policyholders from themselves. The results are devastating for the policyholder. Already stung by a loss of substantial size, the policyholder's financial officials are simply not up to an onslaught of heavy-handed innuendo and allegations of cheating, chiseling and fraud. Policyholder financial officials are left dumbstruck.
Claims adjusters search for fraud and expect to find it.
The search is immensely profitable for insurance company lawyers who get paid by the hour to find needles in haystacks. The system is structured so that the insurer, by denying a claim, gains the time value of money and the likelihood that the claim will be settled for less than its full value. Moreover, at the same time the policyholder is fighting an uphill battle against the insurance company's lawyers, it is forced to defend endless allegations of fraud by the claims adjuster. P.C. Paul Liben directs special projects and research for the firm's insurance coverage practice.