AF recently facilitated its May Arbitrator Workshop with 275 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 May topics and key takeaways included:

Prior Payments

• Various scenarios were discussed, including:
  • The Recovering Party acknowledges receipt of a payment; Responding Party alleges another payment was issued.
  • The Responding Party enters a prior payment on a supplemental filing, which is the prior arbitration award; use the “View Previous Decision” functionality to confirm the amount is a prior award.

Exposures in PIP/Med Pay

• The “Allocate” functionality should be used when there are other paid exposures to properly allocate per person/per incident limits.

Double Dips (Things to Consider)

• Did a dated notice of subrogation letter support the filing company managed and/or controlled the vehicle damages process?
• Did the Responding Party properly enter the payment in the Prior Payment Made field?
• Does the evidence support that the payment(s) was for damages sought in the filing? Has the payment cleared?

Decision Quality – Decision Explanations

• Address the arguments raised by the parties.
• Explain which evidence items informed the decision and how each did so.
• Connect the dots between the arguments, evidence, and your decision.

Policy State vs. Loss State (Auto first-party concurrent coverage disputes)

• Total loss damages are typically paid based on the policy state (e.g., Recovering Party’s total loss documentation is based on the policy state; the Responder disputes damages and provides the total loss documentation based on loss state).

Special Arbitrators Take Note

• Before hearing a case, verify how it was filed in the Ready to Hear view (i.e., Contribution for Concurrent Coverage [CCC], UMBI or UMPD, Workers’ Compensation Subrogation, etc.).
• As you hear the case, verify that it was filed properly.
• If it was not filed properly or you are unsure, call and notify AF.

Enroll in future arbitrator workshops.