First Come, First Served: Subrogating Multiple Claims In Excess Of Policy Limits In All 50 States

Insurance subrogation professionals are routinely faced with minimum limits scenarios which complicate otherwise straightforward subrogation cases.

When a third-party liability carrier’s insurance limits are insufficient to pay the claims of multiple claimants, the carrier must begin to assess the hierarchy of the claimants -- how to slice the insured’s pie.

In order to do this, the carrier must be familiar with the specific laws and procedures in their jurisdiction regarding multiple claims in light of insufficient liability limits.

Where liability is clear and there are multiple claimants making a claim for the limited pool of liability limits, courts have chosen to deal with the dilemma differently.

There are several approaches to solving the dilemma. Below are the most common approaches followed by the states to handle multiple claims in excess of policy limits. No matter how you slice it, each state has its own way of distributing the pie.