Disaster Business Continuity Plan

Most disasters strike without warning. Prepare your agency with a business continuity plan. With the rise in the number of natural disaster in recent years, a comprehensive business continuity plan is essential today!

• Protect business viability and revenue streams
• Maintain communication with customers, employees and others when primary communication lines are down
• Continue to service customers
• Mitigate risk to core business operations

Contact Jim Abbott at Provencher & Company

to see how we can help you with your disaster recovery plan.  

(866) 722-5246 ext 1222 or email: jabbott@provencherclaims.com

DOWNLOAD A RESOURCE FOR KEY STEPS 

IN CREATING OR EVALUATING YOUR BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN:

Godzilla Attacks

“History shows again and again, How nature points out the folly of men, Godzilla.”

An enormous, violent, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation.  He picks up cars and throws them back down.  He pulls up spitting high tension wires.  He wades through the buildings towards the center of town.  What a mess!

But if Godzilla destroyed your city, as a property adjuster, would any of the damage be covered?  I invite you to read the attached article published by PropertyCasualty360 where 4 of the biggest coverage questions regarding such damages are explored.  The article raises some interesting issues.  Enjoy!

Contributed by:

Brian Single

Sr. Claim Examiner

Proving Lost Profits and Economic Damages: Part 1

Part 1 of a 4-part article published in The Value Examiner, a NACVA Publication, titled “Proving Lost Profits and Economic Damages”.

This article is a quick read of basic concepts involved in economic damages.  However, the article does provide somewhat of an authoritative source reference for a few underlying principles. I will share the next three parts of the series as those become available.

Contributed by:

Harvey G Busby, Jr.

Director of Forensic Accounting

and Regulatory Compliance

Report Writing the Provencher Way: Part 2 - Report Handling

Report Handling

As you are reading this, if you have not yet been fully trained in our claim system, W5, and don’t have access  to  our  report  template, you should reach out to our staff in the National Claims Center to gain access to those templates. You must have Microsoft Word loaded on your computer in order to use this template.

First and foremost in the reporting process at Provencher & Company, is documenting the claim file with the date of contact and date of inspection date. Both should be done within twenty-four (24) hours of receiving the assignment, even if the inspection date is in the future. If you are unable to establish contact with the insured, the file should be noted in the way of T&E to record the attempt (daily claims) or a note of the file (CAT claims). The only time the first contact & date of inspection area of the claim file should be left blank, is if contact has not been established and then the file should reflect the attempts. The management team cannot address any potential issues or defend you handling to the client, if the file is not documented.

With regard to written reports:

Please email your reports to reports@provencherclaims.com in Word format. This allows us to make any necessary cosmetic changes without having to send the report back to you to make the changes.   If, however, your report is deficient in content, or we see technical gaps or inconsistencies upon review - it will be returned for revision.

Additionally, all enclosures listed in the report should be attached to the same email if possible. Attachments should be in PDF format and labeled in such a fashion to be easily identified as the enclosures listed in your report.

Never send a report directly to a client without our prior approval.  Our internal audit system is designed to catch any errors before the report goes to our clients.  If the need arises wherein you have to communicate directly with a client via email, always use your Provencher email account.  Help us to help you look good; we are in this together!

Technical Content Cautions

Provencher & Company, LLC adjusters are the best of the best in our industry. There are, however, times we can fall into certain report writing traps due to the fact that we are busy and moving on to the next claim. We must take the time to look back at the prior reports we have written on the same claim to avoid repetition, conflicting messages, etc.  Here are some of the most common traps that our file audits have uncovered:

• Captions identify a topic. Rambling verbiage that changes topics within a caption is confusing and throws doubt on your thought process. Information relative to subrogation should be covered in the Subrogation caption, not buried under the Adjustment caption or discussed in the Cause of Loss Caption.

• Do not repeat, reproduce or duplicate captions and information from prior reports, except by reference (see First Report). For example, as coverage is always addressed in the first report, do not include a caption for Coverage in reports two, three and four unless there is new information – omit the caption! The exception to this is the Reserve Caption.

• Current reserves should be documented on every report. 

• Large losses often require loss management by the adjuster. You may be managing a team of experts and adjusters rather than doing all the work yourself.  If you hire experts for cause & origin or damages, let them do the work they were hired for. Let their report(s) stand on their own. Do not reiterate or interpret expert reports! It is unnecessary and creates fodder for plaintiff’s attorneys.

Coming next week....

Part 3: The Report Content

Did you miss the beginning of this series? Find them here:
     Report Writing the Provencher Way: Part 1 - Introduction

 Contributed by:

      Julie Rock-Chatellier

Webinar Wednesday: A Breach is Just the Beginning: Potential Liability for Mishandling Electronic Data

THIS WEEK WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING WEBINAR:

No cost to attend

A Breach is Just the Beginning:

Potential Liability for Mishandling Electronic Data

The devastating impact of a data breach can be far-reaching.  Organizations such as IT vendors or even law firms, whose lapse in security or other internal failures ultimately permitted a breach to occur, may feel the impact, too, when faced with liability claims due to their role in an incident.  Attend this webinar for discussion on the nature and extent of these “other” claims that may arise out of a data breach, including strategies for evaluating and defending them.

Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Time: 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM EDT

*Please note: This posting is for informational purposes only, as a courtesy to our reading audience. Provencher & Company has in no way been compensated for the sharing of this information. The use of or enrollment in any classes, seminars, training, etc. in no way constitutes or implies any endorsement of the provider of said programs. Provencher & Company shares no financial obligation to attendee or organizer.

Getting "Hammered" In Court

Attached is an interesting court case received by Cozen O’Connor.  The case provides guidance on when an insurer should, in good faith, accept a plaintiff’s settlement offer. The case itself is a bit unusual, but the circumstances could apply to any of our cases. There is no need to accept an unreasonable and/or unsubstantiated offer to settle, but it is always prudent to get advice from your defense counsel before making your final decision. 

Contributed by:
Jim Abbott

Staying Focused for Success

As Provencher & Company continues to grow I feel it’s important that we all stay focused on being strong, exuding positive energy and always doing the right thing.  Recently I gave away my copy of 9 Beliefs of Remarkably Successful People.  I truly missed not having that document next to my desk as I find I often refer to this to "keep myself in check".  That made me realize we have some new folks in our organization that I've not shared it with. 

I recently received the attached document that was a reprint from the Washington Post, Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do.  This is very similar to the original document; both are excellent.

Please take the time to read what is said here in these two documents; these are my core values that I hope you will share.  You have a choice, every day, in how you approach your life and work; it’s up to you to make it positive.

 
9 Beliefs of Remarkably Successful People

Things Mentally Strong People DON'T Do

Enjoy and Make it a Great Day!!

Dave

Contributed by:

David B Kurland

Inside The Eye: National Hurricane Center Blog

The 2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season is upon us!

The National Hurricane Center has a new blog for this season.  “Inside The Eye” is the new official blog of the National Hurricane Center.  The Center is again advocating hurricane preparedness for all coastal residents and recommends that even non-coastal residents be familiar with evacuation routes and designated shelters.

As we all prepare for the current season, stay in touch with the center for updates, forecasts and other information that is necessary to ensure your safety during these catastrophic events.  The NHC also can be followed on Twitter and Facebook.

Follow Provencher & Company On:

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Google+

Report Writing the Provencher Way: Part 1 - Introduction

Introduction

At Provencher & Company, we hold ourselves to a high standard for quality of work, timely services and reasonable billing expenses for our clients. We all benefit from having an excellent reputation, in part, due to the fine work produced by our adjusters.

The intent of this series is to describe a standardized content look for Provencher & Company captioned report. Within this series, you will see that we have defined the purpose/meaning of each caption and provided an example of the report writing style and expected technical writing level of the content. 

For the purposes of this series, the word "client" is meant to be the person or business that gave us the loss assignment. This could be an insurance company, reinsurance company, MGA, broker, self-insured business or similar.

In our ongoing effort to maintain and continuously improve our business, we have taken the time to document proper report writing specifics to Provencher & Company. You may identify with one or more of the observations listed below:

• Most of us learned report writing as a young adjuster on small losses.
• Most of us are not young adjusters anymore!
• The loss you are reporting on represents substantial amounts of money to be paid out by our clients. Some of the money paid by them is shared between us for services rendered.
• Large loss reports in particular, are circulated to Vice Presidents, CEOs, and sometimes to reinsurer or even a law firm.
• These individuals are usually educated, experienced, articulate people used to reading material on the level of the Wall Street Journal. The makes you a published, well read, author! Bravo!
• Poorly written reports will simply not be read. Or worse.... they will. 
• Provencher & Company has received many re-assignments as a result of poorly written reports from other firms. Sometimes, we recognize the original adjuster's name. Many are good adjusters and technicians, but apparently, bad or careless report writers. 

We have heard that an ounce of image is worth a pound of performance.  If you can deliver both, your reputation, the quality and amount of claim assignments you receive will grow.  The best compliment you can receive is when one of our clients gives us a new loss and asks for you by name!

Consider the underlying purpose of the report is to establish Your Credibility!

Coming next week....

Part 2: Report Handling

Contributed by:
Julie Rock-Chatellier

Webinar Wednesday: Eyewitness Testimony and Its Impact on Adjustments

THIS WEEK WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING WEBINAR: Not only is this an excellent webinar for liability adjusters, it is actually good for property folks, too.  It is important in subrogation as well as determining the cause of loss.

Eyewitness Testimony and Its Impact on Adjustments Join us for a Webinar on June 12, 2014 Please register using your Provencher email address to register  as we are an Affiliate Member. Space is limited. Join David Curry, Ph.D., Vice President, Human Performance Sciences and Technology for ITC Experts, for our next webinar on Eyewitness Testimony and Its Impact on Adjustments. Judges and juries oftentimes regard eyewitnesses to accidents or incidents as a sort of gold standard as to what occurred. The great credence they give to the testimony of such eyewitnesses largely ignores well-known limitations to the human perceptual system. The problem is further compounded by a lack of understanding of how the mind retains information and how it evolves over time. This presentation is designed to acquaint the audience with some of the issues which affect or limit the perception of the individual at the time of an event, as well as make attendees aware of how and why memory for the event evolves over time in response to a wide variety of factors. This presentation is particularly timely, since judges in New Jersey are now required to provide this type of information to juries in criminal cases, likely opening the door to similar testimony in civil litigation as well. Learning Objectives By attending this session, you will: - Review human perceptual limitations and aberrations that may affect an individual's recall of an accident/incident - Describe memory limitations, misinterpretations, and alterations that may affect an individual's recall of critical details of a witnessed accident/incident - Evaluate how limitations can most easily be identified, addressed, and handled during investigation and potential litigation - Demonstrate why scientifically-obtained physical evidence is often more valid than witness testimony ** Registration is limited to 1000 participants ** Title: Eyewitness Testimony and Its Impact on Adjustments Date: Thursday, June 12, 2014 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM CST (12:00 - 1:15 PM EST / 10:00 - 11:15 AM MST / 9:00 - 10:15 AM PST) Cost: Free for PLRB & LIRB Members and PLRB Affiliate Members Please register using your Provencher email address as we are an Affiliate Member. After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. Please note there are no adjuster CE credits earned with this webinar series. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/920089862 System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer Mobile attendees Required: iPhone/iPad/Android smartphone or Android tablet *Please note: This posting is for informational purposes only, as a courtesy to our reading audience. Provencher & Company has in no way been compensated for the sharing of this information. The use of or enrollment in any classes, seminars, training, etc. in no way constitutes or implies any endorsement of the provider of said programs. Provencher & Company shares no financial obligation to attendee or organizer.

Recommended Conference: 2014 LCA Educational Conference & Expo

2014 LCA Educational Conference & Expo Save the Date . . . .  2014 LCA Educational Conference & Expo will be held June 4-6, 2014 at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center in Baton Rouge, LA. Click here to register to attend the Conference with a Credit Card. Exhibitors - Click here to download the Exhibitor Package. Make your Room Reservation at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center in Baton Rouge. Call 1-800-955-76962 and let them know you are with Louisiana Claims Association to get the $129 room rate. Conference Handouts - Click here to download Louisiana Claims Association LCA is a non-profit association for all professionals in the claims industry. Members include insurance agents, claims representatives, third party administrators, industrial relations managers, risk managers, administrators of self-insurance programs, defense attorneys, private investigators and all personnel involved in the handling of insurance claims. LCA hosts an educational conference and expo each year, and they sponsor local workshops for continuing education at each of the local associations. Mission Statement: As the premier claims association in Louisiana, the Louisiana Claims Association is dedicated to promoting the highest ethical and professional claims handling standards in the insurance industry through leadership in education, member/chapter coordination and support. Renew your 2014 Membership Today! The Louisiana Claims Association 2014 Membership Campaign is underway. Click here to download the 2014 Membership Application. Click here to join using a credit card. Contact Us Louisiana Claims Association P O Box 14806 Baton Rouge, LA 70898 Phone: 225-291-2806 Fax: 225-291-2811
Copyright Policy

Sinkholes: Can you handle it?

 Photograph: MCT/Landov/Barcroft Media

Sinkholes seem to be popping up, or should we say down, everywhere! Would you know what to do with a sinkhole claim? Do you need to have it reported to a local government agency? Who decided that it IS a sinkhole? Did you know that a geotechnical engineer or geologist must determine that the ground movement was a sinkhole? 

This and more information can be found in the Sinkhole guide developed by Cozen O’Conner, found here. 

One of the latest sinkhole stories coming out of Florida.... sure hope Legoland® doesn't disappear into the ground; the place is pretty neat!



Have a great day!
Julie

Contributed by:

Julie Rock-Chatellier