Subrogation Clients

Protect your Bottom Line: Maximize Recovery from Responsible Third Parties

Subrogation is an efficient and cost-effective legal tool for self-insured companies to recover losses paid in connection with property and casualty, workers’ compensation, and other claims. It is a method that allows a company to mitigate significant losses, thereby increasing profits and reducing the company’s loss ratio. 

Companies with low risks for work-related injury or illness choose to self-insure for its cost efficacy and procedural ease. But if a self-insured company does not proactively subrogate every viable claim, it is leaving money on the table. Working with a subrogation-focused law firm can help self-insured entities take full advantage of every opportunity to recover loss without having to deal with the details of the subrogation process.

Successfully Subrogate Your Property & Casualty Claims

Self-insured companies have a right of subrogation in property and casualty claims. After the incident, a swift and thorough investigation is key to successful subrogation recovery. This is especially true in subrogation cases involving utilities claims or fire damage, where the window to collect possible vital evidence to achieve recovery is fleeting. 

Although a company’s insurance carrier may investigate the claim, its financial interests may be limited by the terms of the policy. General or in-house counsel, or even the Human Resources department, is then responsible for evaluating and investigating the subrogation potential of the matter. However, the scope of any given subrogation case may fall outside the interests of other parties, which leaves the potential for a tortfeasor to go unpursued and losses to accumulate.

Subrogation law is a nuanced, niche area of law, and many lawyers lack the time or resources to vigorously pursue a subrogated claim. Handling your subrogation matters this way can be a costly mistake. A company, (a utility company or a company managing a fleet of cars, for example) that fails to fully exercise its legal subrogation muscles may end up with an inadequate settlement where a full recovery was possible. Working with a subrogation-focused law firm on recovering losses will likely cost you less because of the skilled, dedicated work a subrogation team can put into each claim. 

When considering the intensive work that is required to fully pursue every avenue to recovering from a property, utility or casualty subrogation claim, self-insured entities would do well to outsource those efforts to a law firm dedicated to advocating insurers’ right to subrogate. Working with a subrogation-focused law firm on recovering losses will likely cost you less in the long run because of the skilled, dedicated work a subrogation team can put into each claim. Maximize recovery; minimize loss.

Recovering Loss from Workers’ Compensation Claims

Workers’ compensation insurance is statutory in nature, and self-insured companies retain a right of subrogation under the relevant scheme. If a worker is injured on the job, the self-insured employer is obligated to pay the relevant benefit and medical expenses connected to the claim. Where another party is responsible for the injuries, a subrogation legal theory creates the potential for the self-insured company to recover the entirety of the claim from a responsible tortfeasor. 

As with property and casualty claims, subrogation law in the workers’ compensation field can be technical and complex. To complicate things further, the insurance laws that cover workers’ compensation claims also vary by state. Third-party adjustors may not focus on the subrogation of the company’s claim in addition to the processing of the loss, as it is outside their scope of interest.

Subrogation companies navigate these complicated procedures for self-insured companies to ensure no stone is left unturned in pursuing damages from a responsible third party. Retaining a subrogation law firm with a team of attorneys dedicated to the complex nature of subrogation laws and regulations in each state is vital to the long-term success of a self-insured company. 

Get Ahead of the Process: Preparing for a Subrogation Claim Requires Immediate Response

Any time a company suffers a potentially large loss, it should swiftly take steps to begin a thorough investigation, anticipating both the normal course of action for an insurance claim as well as the possibility of pursuit of a subrogated claim. Thorough documentation is key. In any investigation, more photos, videos, interviews, and evidence are better when it comes to effectively subrogating a loss for a self-insured company.  

• Immediately interview witnesses, injured parties, and potential defendants to lock in future testimony.  
• Photograph and record every aspect of the claim and surrounding areas.  
• Preserve all tangible evidence and documentation, including relevant training manuals, owner manuals, reports and any other paperwork related to the incident.

Another important aspect of any initial investigation for a claim that may later be subrogated is to include all involved parties. Not only do you want to ensure you have had the opportunity to gather all relevant evidence at the outset, but to ensure other, possibly adverse, parties get to as well. This is another step that will underpin the legitimacy of your argument should there later be a disputed subrogation action.

Protect your Interests: Bring in Subrogation Professionals

The sooner you reach out to subrogation counsel, the better. Rathbone Group offers comprehensive investigation services and expert witnesses to assist with your investigation. Many subrogation dollars are lost because neither the self-insured nor its servicing partners adequately investigate a subrogated claim. Where a possible subrogation claim exists, it is wise, timely and cost-effective to reach out to subrogation experts.

RG does everything we can to alleviate concerns about incurring additional investigation costs by offering clients a contingency fee structure for attorneys’ fees. Our careful efforts assist employees through the recovery process while protecting the company’s claim. Always mindful of costs, our creative approach includes checkpoints designated by the client to ensure handling is proceeding as the client prefers.

Our law firm’s subrogation analysis also identifies additional liable parties in a myriad of loss situations. For the subrogation of self-insured claims, our investigation program locates and negotiates with any responsible parties. Rathbone Group’s subrogation recovery program can complement and enhance any existing claims or recovery program. Learn more about our subrogation services for self-insured companies.