Every Claims Person in California Must Read, Understand, or be Trained About the California Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations by September 1 of Each Year
This newly updated and rewritten book was designed to assist insurance personnel who do business in the state of California with the obligation to apply the Regulations that should be provided to each claims person in your company.
It will provide advice to:
all insurance claims personnel, claims professionals, independent insurance adjusters, special fraud investigators, private investigators who work for the insurance industry, the management in the industry, the attorneys who serve the industry, public insurance adjusters, policyholders and counsel for policyholders working with insurers doing business in California
The information needed to properly, efficiently, and fairly resolve insurance claims in full compliance with the requirements of the Regulations so they can understand that the Regulations are merely minimum standards and every insurer requires that the service provided exceeds the requirements of the Regulations.
All insurers doing business in California must comply with the requirements of the Regulations or face the ire of, and attempts at financial punishment from, the CDOI. That punishment was found to be questionable and limited because of one courageous insurer who fought the CDOI and succeeded before an administrative law judge who limited the right to punish. That success, as far as I have been able to determine, has not been emulated.
Regardless of difficulties in assessing punishment the state of California requires all who are involved in the claims process — even if only tangentially — to be trained with regard claims handling in compliance with the Regulations and attest to completion of such training under oath. To avoid the required annual training the claims person can submit a sworn document to the insurer or insurers for whom the claims person works that avers that he or she has read and understood the Regulations.
Reviewing this book, the Regulations and commentary set forth below should be sufficient to comply with the training requirements of the Regulations.
Necessary that insurance personnel who are engaged in any way in the presentation, processing, or negotiation of insurance claims in California be familiar with the Regulations.
Since the California Regulations appear to be detailed, Draconian, and as or more extensive than similar regulations in other states, understanding and working under the Regulations should suffice in every state.
The insurer’s lawyer will need to know, and establish, that the insurer fulfilled the requirements of the Regulations since it will show to a trier of fact that the insurer fulfilled the minimum standards required and required its claims personnel to comply with the Regulations. A knowledge of the Regulations can assist the lawyer in evaluating the exposure faced by an insurer and help the lawyer present an effective defense to an insurer sued for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
Similarly, the lawyer representing a policyholder client needs complete knowledge of the Regulations to use them to prove that the insurer failed to fulfill the minimum standards set by the Regulations. Although not evidence of bad faith failure to fulfill the requirements of the Regulations can go a long way to convince a trier of fact (judge or jury) that the insurer did not act fairly and in good faith. Compliance with the Regulations is important to the evaluation of a claim for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and evaluation of a claim of damages resulting from the tort of bad faith.
Knowledge of the requirements of the Regulations is important to everyone involved in the business of insurance whether as an insurance adjuster, insurance claims management, public insurance adjuster, policyholder, defense lawyer, insurance coverage lawyer, and policyholder’s lawyer.
For detail about this book and many more by Barry Zalma go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/
(c) 2022 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, now limits his practice to service as an insurance consultant specializing in insurance coverage, insurance claims handling, insurance bad faith and insurance fraud almost equally for insurers and policyholders. He practiced law in California for more than 44 years as an insurance coverage and claims handling lawyer and more than 54 years in the insurance business. He is available at http://www.zalma.com and zalma@zalma.com.
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About Barry Zalma
An insurance coverage and claims handling author, consultant and expert witness with more than 48 years of practical and court room experience.
Necessary that insurance personnel who are engaged in any way in the presentation, processing, or negotiation of insurance claims in California be familiar with the Regulations.
