Several years ago I lived in Knoxville, Tenn., in beautiful east Tennessee. There was a place in the middle of the city where two major interstate highways, I-75 and I-40, came together. The volume of traffic going through this major intersection had exceeded the original intent of the design and construction. Truckers talking on their CB radios had a special name for this unfortunate traffic engineering nightmare — "Malfunction Junction." It was so named because truckers and other motorists would sit for long periods of time before they were able to come out the other side and continue on the way to their destinations. Fortunately improvements were later made that eventually relieved this area of much of its traffic woes, making the area somewhat more car- and driver-friendly.

In the claims world, we have another area that can sometimes be a "Malfunction Junction." This is the point where claims management responsibilities come together, whether they are performed by staff or outsourced to service providers — the mind and desk of the adjuster.

In many cases the traffic flows smoothly and in the right direction through the adjuster, and the claims are resolved efficiently and effectively. However, especially in the case of significant or complex losses involving multiple parties, the traffic may not flow as freely through the adjuster as it should. These delays or blockages primarily occur because of one of two reasons:

1. The adjuster's caseload is too high for the adjuster to manage the claims assignments well, or

2. The adjuster is not efficiently managing his/her time and work while trying to direct traffic from these other avenues.

The outcomes of these delays or blockages are:

1. Claims that remain open longer than they should,

2. Misdirection that results in some of the parties heading off in the wrong direction, or

3. Collisions between the parties.

The most troubling outcome from a financial perspective is that these result in greater cost in both claims costs and loss adjustment expenses.