I have a question. So like for those big policies with multiple insurers taking a share, who adjusts the claims when that happens? The lead insurer? Or do all the adjusters from all the insurers jump in on the action?
Depends on how things are structured and what’s in the (contract) policy.
If the “multiple insurers” are reinsuring the risk, then the primary insurer will drive the claims action (either themselves or hire a third party adjuster).
If the “multiple insurers” are jointly primary, I’m sure that the contract will specify who is primary and/or how claims adjusting will be done.
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Gonna guess that it is in the contract how it’s all settled. This should probably be in a Professional Forum.
Gonna also guess that whatever the amount someone says a company has to pay, that is the START of the negotiations.
But, IANTKOA.
The contract will specify how the claims are adjudicated and defended. You can run into some really hairy situations in excess and surplus lines.
But when there are lots of insurers, there is typically a lead insurer that makes the major decisions about adjusting a claim.
I moved this to the P&C forum. Agree that the primary policy typically adjusts the claim, and if the primary layer is shared that the lead insurer adjusts the claim.
Also, if more than one policy is triggered and they are from multiple companies (common with mass torts) the companies may negotiate over time, and who is the lead carrier and what each carrier’s cost share is might change based on those negotiations.
( modern reinsurance contacts usually leave less open to interpretation, but not always.)
Mass torts or other big liability dispute claims are a little trickier as the duty to defend lies with the primary insurer and that layer is not typically shared. Primary insurers often look for settlement opportunities with smaller claimants to exhaust their limits and get off the hook for runaway defense costs.
You can even have some odd situations in layered excess programs when ALAE is shared prorata where a bigger settlement can reduce total net costs in lower layers when there are runaway defense costs.