The Most Effective Tool Available to Insurers to Defeat Attempts at Insurance Fraud & to Resolve Questionable Claims

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A Tool Available to Insurers to Thoroughly Investigate Claims and Work to Defeat Fraud

The insurance Examination Under Oath (“EUO”) is a condition precedent to indemnity under a first party property insurance policy that allows an insurer to compel an insured to submit to questioning from a representative of the insurer under oath. It is a formal type of interview authorized by an insurance contract. The EUO is taken under the authority provided by the agreement of the insured when he, she or it acquires a policy of insurance, to submit to the requirement of the insurer that the insured appear and give sworn. Failure to appear and testify is considered a breach of a material condition that can cause the insured to lose the right to indemnity.

The EUO is a tool sparingly used by insurers in the United States. A professional insurer will only require an insured to submit to an EUO when a thorough claims investigation raises questions:

1. about the application of the coverage to the facts of the loss,
the potentiality that a fraud is being attempted, or
2. to assist the insured in the obligation to prove to the insurer the cause and
3. amount of loss.

Although seldom used the EUO is an important tool needed by insurers when there is a question of coverage, destruction of evidence needed to prove a compensable loss or the amount of loss or evidence indicating the potential that a fraud is being attempted.

The Reason for the Examination Under Oath

In 1884, the U.S. Supreme Court explained the purpose of the EUO. No one can be permitted to say, in respect to his own statements upon a material matter, that he did not expect to be believed; and if they are knowingly false and willfully made, the fact that they are material is proof of an attempted fraud, because their materiality, in the eye of the law, consists in their tendency to influence the conduct of the party who has an interest in them, and to whom they are addressed.” [Claflin v. Commonwealth Ins. Co., 110 U.S. 81, 3 S.Ct. 507, 28 L.Ed. 76 (1884)] (Emphasis added)

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Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, is available at http://www.zalma.com and [email protected].

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