3rd Party Liability claims: Many carriers are set up to service their first party claims and third party claims that are similar to their first party claims, such as auto damages and residential homeowner damages, but what happens when and insured vehicle damages something else like a utility pole, or a commercial structure. We can help. We have already settled many claims on just about anything a vehicle can hit. Store fronts, building facades, utility poles & transformers, TELCO distribution equipment, boilers, HVAC, guide rails, bridge work, heavy equipment, commercial vehicles, and on and on. If we haven’t done your claim we have done others like it. We are different because we actually go out and see the claims. We visit the new utility pole to make sure that the repairs are concurrent with the demand. We visit the damaged building even if it is already repaired. Much can still be seen and reconstructed to see if the demand fits the loss. There is no substitute for visiting a loss, even if the loss is old, much can still be seen and then negotiated. Also we keep a database of our claims so that we can compare and see trends. Some reps. may only settle 5 utility claims a year. We do that in a day or two. We have a large basis for comparison and when a demand comes in that is out of line we take it to task and settle for the fair amount. Also a claimant can be a future insured if the claim is settled fairly and seamlessly, and the claimant is left with a good impression of how he or she was treated. We keep in touch with the insured as well. Many times the insured has received a very large demand, that they have forwarded to the file, and they are apprehensive as to why the claim is not yet settled. We stay in touch with the insured by mail and phone to let them know how the liability portion of the claim is going.
This claim involved a demand from a telephone utility, for the repair of a fiber optic cable, in the amount of $13,600.00. We had the pole referenced in the police report inspected and photographed. After reviewing the photos we realized that the pole was not replaced and that no fiber optic cable was present. This led to further investigation.
The pole clearly showed signs of impact but the impact was not of enough force to cause the pole to be replaced. We contacted the police investigator listed on the report.
It turned out that there were two accidents within two hours of each other at the same location. The first accident was caused by a tractor trailer that had taken down a fiber optic cable. Our client’s insured drove into the edge of the accident scene while the repairs were taking place, hit a tree and then came to rest against the Telco pole on the police report. Our client's insured had hit a mail box, a gas service, a tree, and then the utility pole. He did no damage to any Telco equipment. This was pointed out to the TPA for the phone company and they withdrew their claim.
This photo was supplied by the local police and it shows the insured's vehicle against the pole but the pole was not broken.
This was the tractor trailer that actually did the damages to the overhead fiber optic cable.
The Telco cable can be clearly seen lying in the road.
Photo of the Telco cable lying in the road long before the insured vehicle entered the repair area.
This equipment trailer belonged to a home improvement contractor and was rear-ended by our clients insured. We had to reach an agreement for the replacement and re-outfitting of the trailer as well as replacing multiple damaged tools that were impacted in the loss.
The trailer was outfitted with shelving and benches to accommodate the tools on board.
In addition to the trailer damage there were numerous tools damaged. Each one was inventoried, assessed and assigned an actual cash value.