AF recently facilitated its September Arbitrator Workshop webinars with 202 member arbitrators in attendance. The purpose of these 30-minute workshops is to drive decision quality by:

• Sharing information with arbitrators on recent decision quality trends and drivers.
• Answering questions arbitrators may have on hearing cases.

The September topics and key takeaways include the following:

Decision Explanations

• Address all the supported arguments raised by the parties.
• Explain which evidence items informed the decision and how they did so. 
• Be clear and concise when addressing the arguments.
• Connect the dots between arguments, evidence, and conclusions. 

Multiple Vehicle Award Calculations
Arbitrator options when rear and front damages are not split include the following:

• Separate the damages to the best of your ability if you are familiar with estimating damages.
• Apply an overall percentage based on your review of the vehicle damages. 
• Adjourn for an estimate split of the front and rear damages,
• Do not award “zero” because the filer has proven damages occurred and are owed by the Responding company.
  • The Filing company’s first party deductible does not reduce any damages a Responding company is responsible for in a multi-vehicle impact loss. Therefore, the deductible is not removed from the top when calculating your award. Verify that you are properly applying the deductible in your award calculations.

Liability and Damage Arguments

• Do not buy the story on its own. An argument must be supported with evidence. The decision is based on the preponderance of the evidence.
• Review all evidence and compare it to the arguments. 
• Arguments + Evidence = Fact. If there is no evidence presented by a party, then a fact was not established.

Quick Share

• When an arbitrator uses the “View All Evidence” tab, you will have to select the “Show Video Evidence” on the upper-right side of the screen to view a video. 
• Rule 4-1 burden of proof arguments are only valid when a Responding company does not answer a filing. A Responding company that answers a filing has the obligation to provide liability arguments with evidence or a fact is not established (arguments + evidence = fact). 
• AF does not have formal rules of evidence. However, photographs and invoices may be necessary to support a damage dispute. 
• Embedded evidence needs a clear summarization of the embed evidence item’s content.