Publisher's Synopsis
An "adjuster" or "insurance adjuster" is by statutory definition, a person, co-partnership or corporation who undertakes to ascertain and report the actual loss to the subject-matter of insurance due to the hazard insured against. Insurance companies create, by issuing an insurance policy, a contractual obligation to pay its insureds' valid claim. To do so insurers understand that the person insured is not able to prove the cause and extent of loss without assistance. Therefore, insurers dispatch a person with special knowledge - the adjuster - to separate fact from fiction, to establish cause and origin of the claimed loss, and determine sufficient information to enable the insurance company determine the amounts necessary to indemnify the insured as the policy promised. The adjuster is also present to distinguish the valid claim from a claim for which the insurance company is not liable under its policy. The insurance adjuster is not mentioned in a policy of insurance. The obligation to investigate and prove a claim falls on the insured. Standard first party property insurance policies, based upon the New York Standard Fire Insurance policy, contain conditions that require the insured to, within sixty days of the loss, submit a sworn proof of loss to prove to the insurer the facts and amount of loss. The policy allows the insurer to then, and only then, respond to the insured's proof of loss. The insurer can then either accept or reject the proof submitted by the insured.
