Whose Party Is It?

In recent years, plaintiffs’ attorneys have begun serving non-party discovery directly to insurance companies as a matter of common practice.

Requests can range from broad and expansive (any and all documents contained in the claims file), to case-specific (identification of all times an insurer has retained a specific expert and the amounts paid to that expert), to policy driven (any and all policies, procedures, protocols, or rules regarding claims investigations).

Under each scenario, a non-party request for discovery must be taken seriously by claims professionals, as a failure to either respond or timely object can result in sanctions, including an order to produce all responsive documents without respect to privilege.

What follows are five important steps a claims professional needs to know when non-party discovery is served directly to an insurer.