Best Practices for Handling Business Interruption Claims
Last week, Managing Partner Brian Friel talked about the importance of property and business interruption insurance. Today he gives a deeper dive with a real world example from one of our clients, Capsugel, Inc., a major life sciences company based in New Jersey with operations around the world. In this video, Brian talks about the devastation to one of Capsugel’s major production facilities outside of Bangkok, Thailand caused by the massive flooding in that country in 2011. Despite having a classic excess tower of coverage of over $100 million insuring its manufacturing investments in the region, when it came time to file a property and business income claim, Capsugel’s insurers balked at having to cover the full losses, relying on a fundamental misreading of the policies as well as a bad faith attempt to retroactively change the terms and conditions of the policies.
The Capsugel case is a perfect example of how Miller Friel’s experience and focus leads to results for our clients, or as Brian put it, “Miller Friel at its best.” We initially attempted to resolve the claim through negotiations, and appraisal and quantification of damages with the assistance of forensic accountants. When it became clear that the insurers weren’t interested in a good faith adjustment of the claim, the Miller Friel team increased the pressure on the insurers, leading to the filing of a lawsuit in federal district court in New Jersey, which ultimately resulted in a very favorable settlement for Capsugel. Because of our experience resolving and litigating claims against the insurer’s in the Capsugel program, the insurers knew they were in for a tough court battle with full policy limits and litigation attorneys’ fees at stake, and possibly bad faith and punitive damages exposure as well.
This progression in the claims adjustment process demonstrates what makes Miller Friel the leading insurance recovery firm in the country – our ability to take a business friendly and amicable approach when possible, and a more aggressive posture when necessary to deliver for our clients. Our passion is our clients. Our goal is to deliver the maximum insurance recovery to our clients.
Listen to Brian’s story, the details are fascinating, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.