Adjuster Stories: My Wild Ride Adjusting Insurance Claims - Softcover

Scott, Jonathan L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1491713259 ISBN 13: 9781491713259

Publisher: iUniverse, 2013

Synopsis

Insurance adjusters meet clients on the worst days of their lives, and they must be diplomatic, tactful, and ethical. The job is not only about returning phone calls and doing paperwork. Whether the case involves cargo damage, residential and business property damage, fire, fraud, burglary, or arson, it's the job of the adjuster to get to the bottom of things. Author Jonathan L. Scott has spent more than thirty years as an adjuster. In a series of short stories, loosely based on actual insurance claims, he recalls navigating the human dimension of balancing a client's circumstances with policy requirements and the law-and it's never easy. All adjusters investigate, evaluate, and settle claims, but the best ones are worth their weight in gold several times over. The bad ones, however, can cause huge problems for the public and their employers. If you've ever been curious about the work of an insurance adjuster, read on and find out how each claim becomes its own little adventure.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

ADJUSTER STORIES

My Wild ride Adjusting Insurance Claims

By Jonathan L. Scott

iUniverse LLC

Copyright © 2013 Adjuster Stories LLC
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4917-1325-9

CHAPTER 1

Dri--ick, dri--ck, dri--ck, dri--ck ... What a strange sound I thought. Thereit's again. Dri--ck, dri--ck, dri--ck. I decided to investigate and I got upfrom the kitchen table, leaving my bowl of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, andstepped into the hallway. The sound changed from dri--ck to drip. Iwalked down the hall to the front entrance and was hit by a drop of waterimmediately on my right forearm. I looked up and saw a circular stain withwater, slowly gathering into a sufficient mass and weight to allow it to fallonto the floor. Looking down, I saw a 24 inch puddle, slowly expandinglarger on the slate floor as the water continued to drop.

I hurried back to the kitchen and grabbed my mom's dish towels. I thenwalked back and placed them on the top of the water. I ran up the hallwaysteps and knocked on my dad's bedroom door. A minute earlier he hadfinished taking a shower. I told dad there was a leak in the entrancehallway. Upon hearing my news, dad began to investigate the cause ofthe water leak. The problem was not visible from inside the bathroom.We would later find out that the pan underneath the shower stall tile hadcracked and allowed the water to escape. The water trickled down onto afloor joist. When the drops grew heavy enough, they fell directly downonto the hallway ceiling and then seeped through the drywall, making thecircular stain that I first noticed.

The drips from the ceiling had lessened when dad turned off the shower. Itsoon became clear that the pipes were not spraying out pressurized water.I heard dad muttering a four-letter word that started with an S under hisbreath. Since the towels were soaking up the water, there wasn't anythingelse that we could do to minimize damages. Dad walked to his living roomdesk as I went to grab a couple more towels in case they were needed. Hemade a call to a plumber and then started looking through his lower leftdesk drawer. He located a folder that contained information about ourHomeowner's Insurance. He called his agent who informed dad that aclaim would be reported to Erie Insurance. By mid-afternoon the Erieadjuster had contacted my father and he made an appointment to comeand take a look.

The plumber visited us about two hours later. He cut a hole in the entrancehallway ceiling, looked up through the ceiling with his flashlight, andreported that all the pipes were fine. He observed moisture on the bottomof the shower pan and said that the leak was coming from it. He told dadthat the sliding doors needed to be removed from the stall along with theshower pan and the two layers of tile above it in order to make repairs. Hecouldn't match the existing tile, but what he recommended would be aclose match and work out nicely.

I was fourteen years old when this event took place. We lived in Glenshaw,Pennsylvania. I had gotten home from school a few minutes before theadjuster arrived. I was standing quietly and listening very closely as theadjuster spoke to my dad. The adjuster knew exactly what was needed tofix the problem. He discussed the coverage and told dad he would drop anestimate off the following day. He then added, "You were lucky that yousaw the leak so quickly. If it occurred over an extended period of time, thedamage wouldn't have been covered."

I didn't know it then, but this incident would leave an impression on mewhich would one day change my life. I do remember thinking it must benice to be able to travel away from an office and meet people whereverthey live. The concept of helping people seemed like a wonderful career.

When it was time for me to select a college, I applied to four universities.One didn't accept my application and the other three did. Those schoolswere Waynesburg College, Penn State University, and North CarolinaState University. I had always wanted to go to Penn State, but at thattime the university was involved in a big construction project on themain campus. I would have to attend school at a commuter campus forat least one year before I could transfer to the main campus. That wasn'tappealing to me. My immediate fall back choices were Waynesburg andNorth Carolina State University.

Dad and I made a trip to North Carolina. It was NCAA Basketballtournament time. Our hometown Duquesne Dukes were playing UNCthat evening in an early NCAA round. The azaleas and spring flowerswere in full bloom. The pretty flowers were a sharp contrast to those atour home where nothing had yet awakened from the winter slumber. Wetook a tour of the campus and I was impressed by how big this college wascompared to Waynesburg College. We drove away from the main campusto view Carter Finley Stadium. It was a nice looking stadium and I couldimagine the excitement taking place there on game day. Then we visitedReynolds Coliseum. The on-campus basketball arena with 12,400 seatsimpressed me. While researching the school, I had become interested inthe prior success of the basketball program. It had a good history. Littledid I know they would go 27-0 in 1973, but they did not get to play inthe NCAA Tournament because of a recruiting violation involving DavidThompson. In 1974 they would win the NCAA title by defeating UCLAin Semifinals and Marquette in the National Finals. I graduated in 1973,but 1974 was exciting.

Located across from the coliseum was the Student Supply Store. It was lastplace that we visited that spring day. We walked through the store filledwith T-shirts, books, and school supplies. When we were about to leave, asaleslady walked up to me and said, "Young man, I think you are going tobe one of our new students in the fall. Let me just take you around the storeand show you everything we offer." Southern hospitality was somethingdifferent. As dad and I walked back to the car, he said, "The salesladywas really a wonderful person, wasn't she?" I had been thinking the samething. After we left the campus, dad said to me, "I guess we ought to askWaynesburg for a refund of our deposit, shouldn't we?"

My college years passed very quickly. I had not completed my languagerequirement as my senior year closed. Without passing the two requiredcourses I could not graduate. Fortunately, my German professor realizedthat I was a lost cause and she helped me to reach an accommodation withthe dean that let me receive my diploma at the end of the first summersession.

I always wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps and become a salesmanlike he was. He dealt with bulk material handling equipment and I couldsee myself selling conveyors and cranes. N.C. State University did not offera business major. As a result, I had planned to obtain a liberal arts degreeand then go into sales. Life didn't exactly work out that way.

During the spring semester I applied for my first full-time job, whichwas in retailing. I was fortunate that a national retailer hired me at agraduate salary and allowed me to attend evening classes until I graduated.I started with the title of assistant manager. My time working at theRaleigh store was brief. Several months later I was transferred. At the newstore I developed management skills and was taught all about retailing bythe office manager. She was a wonderful person and an excellent teacher,whom I would come to view more or less as my second mother. She knewpretty much everything about retailing. She always called me Mr. Scottand not by my first name Jonathan.

Retailing wasn't going to be my future and I decided it was time to trysomething different. One Sunday I glanced at the employment ads inthe local paper and saw one under Insurance for candidates interested inbecoming insurance adjusters. They were looking for college graduates andoffered a training program. I remembered the adjuster who came to helpmy father so many years ago. I contemplated the prospect of being ableto help people outside the confines of an office and anticipated observingthings that the average person would never see. I completed a cover letterand a resume that would change my life for the next 30+ years.

I wondered then as I still do now, if there is another job where one personis responsible for so much of a corporation's assets as is an adjuster. Goodadjusters are worth their weight in gold several times over. Bad onescan cause immense problems. They may spend money incorrectly andthrough bad decisions may get their employer involved in costly litigation.Litigation can lead to punitive damages or extra contractual damages beingawarded.

CHAPTER 2

I started my new adjusting career six weeks later. My supervisor was RyanO'Connor. If his last name doesn't give it away, I can attest to the factthat he was a true Irishman. After work he would stop in at a nearby puband order a brew. After taking several sips, little red bumps slowly startedpopping up on his arms and neck. He told me he was allergic to somethingin the beer but he didn't care because it tasted good. He was a great guyand a good teacher. I was lucky to have the opportunity to learn from him.

When I walked into the office for the first time, the first thing he said to mewas, "You will be leaving on Sunday to go to Albuquerque, New Mexico.Make sure you kiss your wife goodbye because you are going to be gonefor weeks. The training center is located in a remote area and you are goingto feel pretty isolated. Some of the work weeks are six days long. They willnot send you home during the training period nor will they pay for yourwife to come and visit you. They will also put you up with a roommate,which is probably not something you will like. Now I have to figure outwhat to do with you for the rest of the week."

For the remainder of that week we talked about many things. I rode alongwith him to inspect several losses. The only advice he gave me duringthose initial claims was "Don't say a word other than hello and if you areasked any questions don't even try to answer them. Just pay attention towhat I do."

The area served by my office was quite large and it could take severaldays to inspect claims scattered through it. Technically I worked for anindependent adjusting company. Any insurance company could be one ofour clients. Sometimes we were asked to investigate, evaluate and settle thecase. Other times we received a limited assignment. We might be askedto obtain a statement from a witness, take a picture, or draw a diagram ofan accident site. It just depended on what they assigned us to do. In the1970s few insurance companies had staff adjusters residing in our area andinspecting losses in the field. There were almost no four-lane highwaysonce you got out of town. It could take you a whole day just to drive backand forth working one or more cases. The more cases we had in an areathe more economical it was for us. Each file was billed separately. The lessdriving time involved the higher our profit margin. In those days quitea few insureds didn't have phones in the mountains. We sent letters andwaited for them to get in touch with us.

The first case I worked with Ryan was a grease fire loss. We drove up anddown the mountains and finally arrived at the insured's house. Ryan askedme what I thought we should do before we went inside. I said, "I don'tknow. I guess we ought to see how bad the problem is." He just chuckledand we went inside.

The insured was a very nice person and we were there about 45 minutes.Luckily, when the grease in the frying pan caught fire, there was nostructural damage, but there was sure a lot of black smoke that saturatedthe kitchen and several other rooms. I helped Ryan measure the interiorto determine the square footage of each room. He explained that once thesquare footage was known a repair rate could be applied to the affectedarea to assist in completing an estimate. He said, "Make sure you prepareyour estimate room by room. If you don't do it that way, you will not beable to show the insured each item that was included in the estimate. Ifthe insured calls weeks from now, your memory will not be as good asit is today. It is easy to overlook something. After your report is sent in,you won't be able to show how you calculated the loss dollars if you usedlump sum figures. Anticipate the possibility that the Insurance Companymight have questions about the estimate. If you list each item, it is easyto answer them."

I will always remember that day for another reason. On the way home, aswe were at the top of one of the mountains, Ryan's car ran out of gas. Wecoasted down the hill for several minutes and finally rolled into a servicestation. The vehicle's momentum stopped right at a gas pump. I don't thinkthere was another gas station within 10 miles. Ryan had no money in hiswallet and my wallet was empty. He went into the rear passenger area andlocated some change underneath the seats. It was enough to purchase justenough gas to get home. In the following months I saw him droppingchange over his shoulder into the rear of his car. The only other memory Ihave of my first week was asking Ryan a lot of questions.

The training center was located just outside Albuquerque. The instructorbegan the first training class by asking the 15 of us to briefly state ourname, hometown, and how long we had been with the company. Thefirst person announced he had been with the company for six months.The comments of the next person I would always remember. He said,"My name is Darrell Pender and I am from Waterloo, Iowa. I have beenwith our company for exactly five minutes and this is my first day withthe company." When he finished, everyone in the room broke out intolaughter. It was one of those moments that if you weren't there you justdidn't know how funny it really was.

The classes were very challenging. We spent 240 hours in the classroom andwere given only one of the Saturdays off. The training was comprehensive,detailed, exhausting, perplexing, and competitive. We had to writenumerous practice estimates. We spent one week discussing Liabilitycoverage. I wondered how much of the information I would retain whenI got home. Would I be able to answer coverage questions from my clientsinvolving Homeowners and Fire policies?

The training center had a mockup of a roof in one of the buildings. Theinstructors showed us how to properly climb onto it. The mockup hadsections demonstrating the various types of shingle damage we would seein the field. The instructors provided guidance we might use to figure outwhen we should allow for a partial repair or replace the entire roof. Wehad to write numerous practice estimates for the instructors to critique.

One entire week was spent teaching us how to estimate vehicle damage.I hoped that I wouldn't get the chance to write many vehicle estimatesbecause I never had any interest in cars. Fortunately, in my entire career Iprobably wrote less than 500 vehicle estimates but I found it interesting toinvestigate the circumstances of what happened at the moment an accidenttook place.

When I got home and began handling my own cases, it seemed like Ihadn't learned much about coverage interpretation during the classes.As my cases got more complicated, it took me years to understand howpolicy language was legally interpreted in Personal and Commercial linespolicies. The liability sections were easier for me to understand, but liabilitywas an area that I didn't really want to work in. Liability adjusters willtell you why they are at the top of the food chain as far as the skills thatare required. I disagree with that view. The truth is the dollars spent everyyear on property claims are greater than those spent on the casualty ones.

CHAPTER 3

I learned quickly that it was important to show sympathy and empathywhen they were needed in order to be successful. That didn't mean I wasalways sympathetic or empathetic; however, I often sincerely felt bothsympathy and empathy.

In one of my early claims a young couple was involved. The policyholderswere Robert and Tammy Johnson. The loss notice indicated that theirhouse had been heavily damaged by a fire. There was no contact phonenumber provided. I decided to visit the loss location and hoped to locatethem. I found the insureds at a nearby neighbor's house. Mrs. Johnson wasabout to give birth to their first child. It surprised me to learn that Mr.Johnson was only 16 years old and his wife was only 14. They had beenmarried for about a year. The destruction of their small home came at theworst time for them.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from ADJUSTER STORIES by Jonathan L. Scott. Copyright © 2013 Adjuster Stories LLC. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: iUniverse
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1491713259
• ISBN 13: 9781491713259
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 262