AF recently facilitated its latest Filer/Responder workshop webinar on February 21 and 22, with over 200 attendees. The purpose of these 30-minute workshops is to drive decision quality by:

• Sharing information to improve filing and responding effectiveness
• Answering questions attendees have regarding filing and responding to cases.

The following are key takeaways from the February workshop.

Additional Exposures (exposures not included in the filing, i.e., guardrail damage, another party’s out-of-pocket damages)

• Include all additional exposures (paid, unpaid, or unknown amount) when responding and asserting policy limits.
• Under the exposure description, enter only pertinent information (i.e., “Claimant’s out-of-pocket rental paid”).
• Include evidence in the policy limits section to support the policy limits and the additional exposures. For additional exposures, the payment only needs to show as issued to be entered as a paid exposure.
• When the filing company does not seek the deductible but the responding company has issued payment for it, the deductible payment is entered as an additional exposure.  

Prior Payments (payments pertaining to the damages sought in the filing, i.e., partial payment to the Recovering Party, repair facility, or rental company.)

• When responding to the filing, the Responding Company must enter its alleged payment amount into the “Prior Payment Made” field for its payment to be credited.
• Evidence must support that the payment has been cashed for credit to be given. To assist the arbitrator, include evidence in support of the damages the prior payment was issued to reimburse (i.e., repair estimate).
• The “Prior Payment Made” section is the only area where double dip situations can be addressed. The double dip payment must be explained as part of a damage dispute in the feature damages itemizations. 

Total Loss Filings 

• Arbitration is not to be filed until the vehicle salvage has sold, which allows for the correct recovery of damages.
• When an insured retains their vehicle, documentation should be provided to support the amount deducted for owner-retained salvage.

Michigan Losses

• Mini-tort applies to losses not covered by PPI.
  • Covered under Limited Property Damage coverage.
  • Statute of limitations for these losses is three years. 
  • Mini-tort allows up to $3,000.00 of recovery for uninsured expenses, such as an insured’s deductible and out-of-pocket rental.  
• Insurance companies cannot collect, and filings should be rare.
  • Michigan 500.3135 (4)(C) states that mini-tort actions must be commenced in small claims court whenever legally possible.
  • Carriers cannot file for only the deductible or out-of-pocket expenses.
• Jurisdictional exclusion (subrogation prohibited) must be raised to consider Michigan no-fault statutes as a bar to recovery.
• A jurisdictional exclusion revisit may be requested to add a rebuttal, if needed.

View dates and enroll in an upcoming 2024 Filer and Responder workshop.