Insurance Bad Faith and Deviation From Industry Standards: Using Experts to Help Juries Understand Claims Adjusting

Insurer claims handling manuals, training materials, and guidelines are often unavailable or offer little useful information. Insurance claims experts explain how adjusting works and offer information and analysis about the training, policies and procedures, and policy interpretation by insurance claims handlers and whether their subsequent decisions in covering or denying claims met with industry standards.

Insurance claims handlers must analyze and apply law, policies, statutes, and regulations when they adjust claims. Proponents contend claims experts should be able to testify as to whether the handler properly interpreted and applied the relevant policy provisions in accordance with known law. Others contend this type of testimony invades the province of the court to construe the policy and should be excluded.

Either way, the admissibility of expert evidence is governed by Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and state counterparts, as well as interpretive decisions. There are no established criteria for being deemed a claims handling expert.

Listen as this highly experienced panel of claims handling experts who have testified in deposition and trial throughout the country discuss the use of claims handling experts in bad faith insurance claims and the controlling evidentiary rules.

1. Reasons to use a claims handling expert
2. Topics about which claims experts testify
3. Qualifications
4. Admissibility under FRE 702/Daubert
5. Strategies for plaintiffs
6. Strategies for defendants

The panel will review these and other pivotal issues:

• What qualifies one as an insurance bad faith expert?
• How closely does the expert's experience have to match the subject of the proposed testimony?
• Can claims handlers testify on mixed questions of law and fact?