Insurance refusing to process claim?

This is a question that a friend of mine has been dealing with.

We live in Ohio, and my friend was working as a nurse in a nursing home when he suffered an injury.

He went through the worker’s comp process before the state industrial commission, and lost at a higher stage (it went back and forth). He is now suing the employer and looking at a potential settlement with the employer but it isn’t certain what will happen.

The issue is that this has dragged on a while, and now that he has lost the worker’s comp process itself, he is trying to have his private insurance process the claim (as he is approaching filing deadlines).

His insurance is refusing to process the claims while he is exploring a lawsuit or settlement (even though he won’t be covered under worker’s comp regardless, even if he gets a settlement or award).

They aren’t denying his claims, rather they are simply refusing to process them, they won’t issue him a denial, an EOB, or anything else. They refuse to acknowledge submitted claims until he provides proof of the resolution of the civil case against the employer.

Is this legal? Is this normal? On advice from his lawyer, he asked the employer provided insurance to provide where in the terms of their policy they have the right to refuse to process the claim, and they refused, saying that he would need to ask the employer for terms and conditions.