Now dats what I’m talking about. Ken Feinberg curbs ESIS and turns instead to the well oiled machine at Crawford and Company for spill claims.

I have a lot going on right now but this post must go up.  I’ve had one eye peeled on BP claims since we began covering problems in the BP claims process back in late June. (A short follow up to the first post can be found here.) So here is the deal and the story behind the story which is often just as good.  BP hires ESIS to handle their claims related ot the oil spill.  ESIS is a subsidiary of ACE Insurance, a company connected to the disgraced former CEO of AIG, Hank Greenberg.  Obama snags a $20BN claims concession from BP and appoints Ken Feinberg to oversee the process.

Now there are the Women of the Oil and the Anne(a) Marie(as) of the Slabbed so I guess it is only fair there are also Women of the Slabb, a group of discriminating women who are as intelligent as they are lovely that include more than a few ladies that call the insurance industry home in one way, shape or fashion. Two of these women are Deb at Dimechimes and Mary Anne over at The Insurance Situation both of which are on our blogroll under insurance. In the area of claims these women are at the pinnacle of their profession.

Let’s begin Mississippi coast girl made good Mary Anne Medina who snagged a 1 on 1 interview with Ken Feinberg for Claims Magazine in early July.  We follow Mary Anne on twitter where I saw both the link to the story and her earlier tweet which enabled me to date her interview with Feinberg. One important thing in her interview was that Feinberg said ESIS was still in handling BP claims.  That was important because on Friday enter our good friend Editilla with his link to Gambit/Pro Publica which said ESIS was out and Garden City Group was in.  I immediately emailed it to Deb over at Dimechimes since she has done extensive blogging on this very topic. Turns out she had done a post the day after Mary Anne’s article was published on this topic and the inconsistencies in Feinberg’s remarks.

If there is a lesson here for our readers it is that when visiting Slabbed be sure to click the links on our blogroll, especially those in the Slabbed Nation’s claims division.  🙂

sop

5 thoughts on “Now dats what I’m talking about. Ken Feinberg curbs ESIS and turns instead to the well oiled machine at Crawford and Company for spill claims.”

  1. I appreciate SOP posting this information, which also printed (although not as lucidly) in “The Times-Pick-Your-Nose” this morning. Trying to figure all of this out is “above my pay grade”, but for those who want to try, Rule No.1 should be: “Just follow the money.” It is not clear to me how the so-called “claims adjusters” have been compensated to date and how they will be compensated in the future. Is it “time and materials”, ie. an hourly basis, a percentage of sums paid out, or more likely a percentage of sums “saved”, which “translated” means a “license to steal”, or some “blended” method of compensating the claims adjusters. More importantly, just who is “the hook and bull”? Is it BP through the “Gulf Coast Restoration Organization”? Is it Feinberg, Amy Weiss or Feinberg Rozen? Is it the recently named “trustees” (wouldn’t it stand to reason that “trustees” would have absolute “control” over money being paid out, which would include hiring the claims adjusters who will screen claims and make recommendations in the first instance?)? Is it the U.S. Department of Injustice? THIS IS ALL POLITICS and who determines what companies who masquerade as “claims adjusters” will be made rich by the hundreds of millions, if not billions. What SOP and the “Times-Pick-Your-Nose” have not addressed (yet) is the affirmative claim which the “Lame-Stream-Media” reported last night which BP intends to present against the fund, said to be between $3 billion and $5 billion. It could be “pretty important” who “OWNS” the claims adjuster when BP’s claim is presented and the pay-out is decided. This whole MESS stinks, and it has “stunk” since April 20, 2010, with precious little “intelligent” investigative reporting. Ashton O’Dwyer.

  2. Thanks for the encouraging words! There is more to come on this story in both camps of BP and Feinberg! I will have some more direct info soon! There may be some surprising and somewhat unexpected twists. Stay tuned in the next few days for the update! I will always have our mutual geographic area in my heart! Thanks for following! Do find it interesting to read your perspective and you have such a way with words. Never a dull moment at the Slabbed Camp!

    1. You’re welcome Mary Anne. Oui ami to please.

      Pup the adjusters will do what they are told which is why BP needs to be out of the loop.

      sop

  3. Whether it’s Crawford, Worley or any other TPA or independent adjusting firm, the insurance adjusters should be kept out of this. What distribution of this fund requires is an organization without the insurance slant, which all of these companies have. Although I have friends and family members who are/have been insurance adjusters and insurance lawyers, I am convinced that they are trained to look at every single claim with a skeptical eye. And while I am all for verifying claims and booting any fraudulent or exaggerated claims, some very honest (yest usually undereducated) claimants are going to be vilified before they are victimized.

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