Choose Your Own Adventure: When To File A Lien And When To Intervene

You, the insurance company, have paid out money to the insured as the result of some negligent third party’s conduct. Now you must decide whether, and how, to recover that money from the third party. This is subrogation. The word “subrogate” stems from 15th century Middle English, deriving from the Latin word for “substitute” or “to nominate a substitute for another.” To subrogate a claim is to obtain relief or reimbursement for the injured party when a third party is clearly liable. Recovery, however, in most cases means offsetting rather than eliminating the insurance company’s innate cost. For some, subrogation is a foreign concept that is often too difficult to litigate.