Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate Alternative Dispute Resolution Roundtable January 6 Report
Jan 7, 2010
Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate Sean Shaw held an Alternative Dispute Resolution Roundtable discussion on January 6, 2010 regarding concerns about the insurance appraisal process and umpire involvement in insurance claims resolution.
Participants included appraisers, umpires, public adjusters and attorneys, as well as insurance industry representatives.
The first half of the meeting was dedicated to indentifying existing problems in the appraisal process, while the second half involved reaching a consensus proposed solutions.
Mr. Shaw plans to compile a list of recommendations based on his observations from the meeting and submit them to interested parties at a later date.
Many of the Roundtable participants stated that the current appraisal and umpire process is problematic, because appraisers and umpires are not licensed. Further, unscrupulous individuals are generally not punished.
It was acknowledged that certain biases exist when parties to a dispute select an umpire to oversee the appraisal process. Overall, the general lack of governance of the appraisal process leads to uncertain and inconstant results.
Many participants cited personal experiences with the appraisal process to illustrate the flaws in the current process.
The Roundtable members seemed to agree that both appraisers and umpires should be licensed and regulated. Panelists also asserted that uniform guidelines or regulations governing the appraisal process would be beneficial, but were split on whether a state agency, such as the Department of Financial Services, should maintain a list of approved, licensed umpires from which to randomly assign.
Many participants suggested that umpires should be required to disclose any affiliation with insurers if one exists.
William Stander, representing the Property Casualty Insurer Association of America, commented that the his organization plans to aggressively pursue legislation that will cut down on insurance fraud and claim inflation.
To view the complete list of Roundtable participants, click here.
Written comments and suggestions regarding the appraisal process will be accepted by the Insurance Consumer Advocate’s office until January 15, 2010. Should you have any comments to submit please contact Katie Webb at kwebb@cftlaw.com.
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