A Video Explaining Negotiation of Settlement of a First Party Property Claim

It is the Obligation of the Adjuster to Negotiate Settlement with Insured

After the adjuster has completed the bid comparison and established the objective amount of the loss, he or she should meet with the insured and present each of the estimates and the bid comparison. The adjuster will then advise the insured that the settlement of the building or structure loss will be based on the objective value of the loss determined by the bid comparison.

The decision on which contractor to use is always made by the insured not the insurer. The insured may believe he knows someone who can do the work better or who, from experience, the insured knows will satisfy him, and will accept the dollar amount offered by the insurer.

The adjuster should never demand that a particular contractor be used since the insurer is only obligated to pay indemnity, not to reconstruct a building.

Building, Contents and Guaranteed Replacement Cost

© 2021 – Barry Zalma

Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, now limits his practice to service as an insurance consultant specializing in insurance coverage, insurance claims handling, insurance bad faith and insurance fraud almost

equally for insurers and policyholders. He also serves as an arbitrator or mediator for insurance related disputes. He practiced law in California for more than 44 years as an insurance coverage and claims handling lawyer and more than 52 years in the insurance business. He is available at http://www.zalma.com and zalma@zalma.com.

Mr. Zalma is the first recipient of the first annual Claims Magazine/ACE Legend Award.

Over the last 53 years Barry Zalma has dedicated his life to insurance, insurance claims and the need to defeat insurance fraud. He has created the following library of books and other materials to make it possible for insurers and their claims staff to become insurance claims professionals.

Go to the podcast Zalma On Insurance at https://anchor.fm/barry-zalma; Follow Mr. Zalma on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bzalma; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg; Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/ Read posts from Barry Zalma at https://parler.com/profile/Zalma/posts; and the last two issues of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter-2/