Claims

The Club's Rules require that Members must give immediate notification to the Club of any incident which could result in a claim or liability falling within the scope of the cover. To assist the Members, the Club has a network of correspondents in all the major ports in the world who are able to give on the spot help and guidance. Once a claim or potential claim has been notified, the Club will give instruction and supervise the management and handling of the case, usually in liaison with the Member, and often with the assistance of its correspondents, and surveyors and lawyers.

The Club will supervise the handling of a claim to its conclusion, in close consultation with the Member. If the Member does have a liability, the Club will request him to pay the agreed amount to the third party claimant. Once the Member has paid the claim, he may then seek reimbursement from the Club in accordance with the Rules and his terms of entry.

The Member will not always be entitled to full reimbursement. The amount he can recover from his Club may be limited because of a special limit in his cover, or because the cover for a particular type of claim is subject to a deductible, i.e. an amount which the Member has agreed to bear himself before he can claim from his Club.

The Club may at times assist a Member in handling claims which are not covered or only partially covered. An example of the latter is collision, where the Club normally only covers 1/4th of the Member's liability for collision and the hull underwriters cover the remaining 3/4ths. It is common for the hull underwriters in these cases to leave the claims' handling to the Club, to save duplication of effort. The costs are then divided between the Club and the hull underwriters in accordance with the percentage risk each is bearing.

NOTE: Further information with regard to claims handling can be found in the CD "A Team Effort - A Guide to Casualty Investigations & Claims Handling”.