Subrogation

Subrogation is defined as “the substitution of one person in the place of another with reference to a lawful claim, demand or right, so that he who is substituted succeeds to the rights of the other in relation to the debt or claim, and its rights, remedies or securities”. For example, an insurance company may pay for damages incurred by the policyholder. These damages are those covered under a policy of insurance and include property damage, medical payments, and uninsured motorist coverage. Sometimes these damages and injury are caused by the negligence of another party. After payment of these damages, the insurance company is entitled to recover these payments from the responsible party and these recovery efforts may include litigation.

Health insurance companies also make payments for medical expenses which are actually the responsibility of another party. The insurance company is “subrogated” to the rights of the insured and can seek recovery for these costs from the wrongdoer. We also handle workers’ compensation subrogation.

The Business Division of Craft & Sheppard handles these cases, which range from auto accidents to significant business commercial losses, similarly to the way we handle a plaintiff case: aggressively. In these cases, we must establish a duty, a breach of duty, damages, and causation, just like we do in other plaintiff cases.

Our insurance and claims experience helps us to understand the priorities and expense control needs of the company. We are committed to improving their loss ratios and recovery rates. We work with companies to improve their investigation and claims handling so that we have the evidence we need to prevail on these complex cases.