Episode 85 - New Years Review of Unfair Claims Settlement Practice Act

🚨 Are You Handling Claims… or Creating Bad Faith Exposure?

Most bad faith cases don’t start with fraud.
They start with missed steps, sloppy communication, and undocumented decisions.

In Episode 85 of The Art of Adjusting® Podcast, Bill Auten and Chantal Roberts break down what Unfair Claims Settlement Practices actually look like in real files — and why adjusters, supervisors, and carriers need to care heading into 2026.

We cover:

How Bad Faith, Unfair Trade Practices, and Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Acts intersect

Why claims handling rules don’t always live where you think they do

How state statutes vs. administrative codes quietly govern your daily work

What expert witnesses and juries actually look for in claim files

Why “I made a mistake” is defensible — but “I didn’t document it” often isn’t

🧭 The 7 Claims Handling Standards We Discussed

(Yes — we put the chart in the show notes because it matters)

Rule → Action
Preliminary Claims Handling → Investigation begins promptly
Claim Procedures → Adjusters are trained and have management supervision
Investigation → Tailored to the individual claim
Communications → Timely, clear, forthright, easy to understand
Momentum → No unexplained delays
Analysis → Document damages; apply to coverage
Decision / Resolution → Decide coverage; pay or deny the claim

If you’ve ever thought:
“But that’s how we’ve always done it…”

This episode is for you.

🎙️ Hosts: Bill Auten & Chantal Roberts
📅 Next episode teaser: January 15, 2026 — The Anatomy of a Slip-and-Fall Claim

👉 Like, subscribe, share, and comment — it helps the algorithm surface real claims education to people who actually need it.

Drop your thoughts in the comments:
Which step causes the most problems in your claim files?