News & Insights

Tigermar as claims advocate and trusted advisor.

Tigermar recently demonstrated its reputation as a leading independent insurance broker by successfully resolving a complex cargo claim. The case involved an insect infestation in a storage warehouse, initially reported months after the incident.  The local management of our multinational client had delayed notification to discretely dispose of unaffected stock at the best market price they could, thereby limiting the ultimate claim quantum that was subsequently submitted to insurers.

The first challenge was causation. While insurers attributed the damage to the infestation, Tigermar engaged experts to prove that the proximate cause was in fact heating, sweating, condensation, and spontaneous combustion; perils covered under a policy extension for Inherent Vice that we had negotiated for our client.  Technical evidence such as equilibrium relative humidity and storage conditions, and assessments of the commodity’s post-harvest lifespan was used to substantiate our argument.

The second challenge was late notification. Insurers argued prejudice on the grounds of the late notification and initially offered less than 10% of the original claim. Tigermar countered by modelling the losses that would have arisen had the claim been reported promptly, double the claim amount, once market prices, salvage, transport, and storage costs were considered. By demonstrating that late reporting had reduced, rather than inflated, the claim, Tigermar reversed the prejudice argument.

Through skilled, experienced, and determined negotiation, Tigermar secured a full settlement of the claim for our client. The case concluded with a client risk management briefing, reinforcing Tigermar’s dual role as claims advocate and trusted advisor.