Will carriers use alternative dispute resolution to avoid litigation?

The global pandemic has not only affected countless businesses, but it has closed courtrooms across the country, creating an even larger backlog of cases and forcing courts and anyone with business before them to explore different options to find some version of a timely resolution.

For insurers with cases awaiting trial, there are several options. They can wait for the courts to reopen and the legal claims to make their way through the system, they can choose to negotiate with claimants and policyholders to find a reasonable settlement, or they can employ some method of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

The latest Insurance and Law Today podcast features a discussion with Wright, Constable & Skeen attorney, Marie Ignozzi, and Caryn Siebert, vice president and director of carrier engagement at Gallagher Bassett.

In the podcast, Siebert provides insights on how carriers can use ADR as a creative solution to reach an agreement without litigation for contested claims. Options include mediation, arbitration, settlement conferences and facilitation. Siebert shares that trials are expensive and risky for insurers and ADR provides both parties with an opportunity to sit down and discuss the evidence.

Improved technology has made it much easier for carriers and claimants to meet even in the age of COVID-19, and those cost and time-savings benefits will continue even after courts begin to reopen.

Ignozzi and Siebert also addressed the benefits of handling claims remotely and how effectively insurers have operated in a virtual environment. “Eighty percent of the workforce was remote in some way before COVID,” shared Siebert. The benefits of not having to relocate staff members have allowed carriers to hire people across the country, which broadened their workforces substantially.

Listen to the full podcast here or on PodBean, Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.

Related:

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• Fostering employee mental, physical health in a remote world