Homeowners Insurance Company Claims Investigations

• July 10 2019
• |   Insurance

What kinds of information might an insurance company request in the course of an investigation into a claim?

The insurance company has no incentive economically to stop requesting additional information. The more hoops they make you jump through, the longer the insurance company delays having to pay your legitimate claim.

As an example of what kinds of additional requests for information the insurance company may make, the insurance company may require you to submit to a recorded interview on the phone, asking about the personal property, when you purchased your items, and how the loss occurred.

They can also ask the insured for an examination under oath, where an attorney would sit down on behalf of the insurance company to ask the insured questions, similar to the recorded statement. They are trying to get to the specifics on the items that were lost and whether they can find any issues with your claim that would allow them to reject some or all of it.

Q: Is it worthwhile to have an attorney accompany you to an interview like that?

For the examination, yes, an attorney can be helpful. But under the examination rules, there is a cooperation clause within the insurance policy. In a homeowner’s policy, it’s normally found in a section called “duties after a loss.” One of the duties after a loss is that the insured must cooperate with the insurance company, including during the examination. Attorneys can’t get in the way of those questions. They can be there, and they can object to improper questions, but they don’t want to cause any issues under failure to cooperate.