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Intermediary September 2001
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INFORM THE CLUB IMMEDIATELY
As soon as you receive a claim, or become aware of circumstances which might lead to one, you must inform the Club immediately. While it is a requirement of the insurance to do so, Members should also bear in mind that the Club deals with many claims and has knowledge of what to do in most circumstances. Early reporting of claims can save time, trouble and cost.
PREPARE THE CLAIM
You should then prepare a summary (which may be in the form of a letter) whilst events are still fresh in your mind, setting out the circumstances which have led to the claim against you, and send it to the Club with all relevant documents. With a wide variety of claims, it is difficult to give a comprehensive list of documents required, but the following are often relevant:
- A copy of the communication from the claimant setting out their alleged claim.
- Copies of emails, faxes, etc. relating to the error (if any) and the claim
- Bills of lading, manifests, agency agreements, etc. (ship agents)
- Standard trading conditions, NVOC bills of lading (transport operators)
- Charterparties, fixture files (chartering brokers)
- Memorandum of Agreement, sale file (sale and purchase brokers)
- Management agreement (ship managers)
- Survey report (marine surveyors)
DO NOT ADMIT LIABILITY
Remember that you should not make an admission of liability or settle any claim without the Club's approval. An apology to a customer would probably be taken by a court to be an admission of liability. For very sound reasons all liability insurances contain this provision. Once the claimant has an admission of liability in his hands, this usually removes all prospects of a negotiated settlement. The claim amount could double (or triple) with the addition of consequential losses. At the same time you could have prejudiced your right to recover from the Club.
We do not mean that you should offend your best customer by repudiating liability when you are clearly at fault, but a simple acknowledgement of the claim and a confirmation that you have passed it to the Club should not offend.
The better presented the claim is, the quicker it will be dealt with. Please don't follow the example of one
Member who sent the Club a string of email exchanges with a compliments slip marked "claim attached".