Can an Insurance Company Refuse to Provide a Copy of the Report Used to Deny Your Claim?

Originally published by Brandee Bower .

This is a question I was asked recently so I thought I would answer it here. In this case, the insured made a claim for hail damage done to the roof. The insurance company investigated the claim and hired an Engineer to inspect the property. The Engineer drafted a report and provided it to the insurance company. Based on that report, the insurance company denied the claim. When the insured and his public adjuster asked for a copy of the report, the insurance company would not produce it, saying it is privileged “work product.” So what is “work product?”

‘The work product doctrine protects materials prepared in anticipation of litigation. It does not protect materials prepared in the ‘ordinary course of business.’ Western Nat’l Bank v. Employers Ins. of Wausau, 109 F.R.D. 55, 57 (D.Colo.1985). The Colorado Supreme Court has declared that the general standard to be applied when deciding whether something was prepared in anticipation of litigation is ‘whether, in…

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