Legal Fee Audits

Insurance Bad Faith & Claims Handling

Claims handling decisions carry legal consequences. The question is not whether a claim was difficult — it is whether decisions were reasonable given what was known at the time.

Jim Schratz brings decades of experience as both an insurance executive and an attorney. He has adjusted, supervised, and reviewed thousands of high-exposure claims involving mass torts, construction defects, complex business disputes, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death matters across multiple insurance lines.

This practice focuses on evaluating whether insurer conduct met accepted industry standards — grounded in documentation, chronology, and context.

What This Practice Covers

• Insurance Bad Faith — Evaluation of insurer conduct, investigation quality, communication, and settlement decisions. Insurance Bad Faith Overview.
• Claims Handling Standards — Industry expectations regarding investigation, documentation, timeliness, and escalation. Claims Handling Standards.
• Independent Counsel & Conflict Issues — Insurer–insured conflicts, Cumis counsel considerations, and fee-related disputes. Independent Counsel Conflicts.
• Litigation Management Failures — Oversight of outside counsel, staffing discipline, and cost control practices. Litigation Management Failures.
• Attorney Fee Exposure — When insurer conduct results in fee-shifting or expanded liability. Insurer Liability for Attorney Fees.

Executive-Level Claims Experience

Jim previously managed high-exposure claims worldwide at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, overseeing matters with potential exposure of $3 million or more. He supervised defense of lawsuits alleging improper claims handling and conducted internal reviews to evaluate compliance with industry standards.

This perspective informs how claims decisions are analyzed today — not from theory, but from practical experience inside the organization.

Expert Witness & Consulting Services

Since 1994, Jim has provided expert witness testimony and consulting services nationwide in matters involving bad faith, improper claims handling, and litigation management. He has been qualified as an expert in state and federal courts across multiple jurisdictions.

For dedicated expert witness services, see Insurance Bad Faith Expert Witness and Claims Handling Expert Witness.

Interaction with Attorney Fees

Claims handling disputes frequently intersect with attorney fee exposure. Where fee-shifting or reasonableness of defense costs is at issue, structured fee analysis may be required.

See Legal Fee Audits and Legal Fee Expert Witness.

Industry Perspective, Not Advocacy

This practice evaluates conduct against accepted standards — whether retained by insureds, insurers, or counsel. The analysis focuses on documentation, chronology, and reasonableness within the context of the information available at the time.