Environmental Claims Consulting
VERTEX investigates and manages claims to ensure the necessary work is completed in a timely and cost-effective manner.
For well over a decade, insurance clients have relied on VERTEX to successfully support claim and underwriting assignments involving pollution, industrial hygiene & building sciences, natural resource damage, and remedial cost-cap policies. Our services are wide ranging and include: cause and origin investigations, underwriting support, claim invoice review, extent-of-impact evaluations, claim monitoring and management, and litigation and technical support.
VERTEX starts with an investigation of the claim and follows through with management when required. We confirm that contracts include reasonable unit costs for essential remedy work and negotiate as necessary with the parties involved to minimize the cost of the claim. VERTEX’s knowledge of the insurance industry coupled with our technical expertise in environmental, engineering, and construction are integral factors in providing value to our clients.
Claim Investigation
VERTEX is one of the top consulting firms for property-related claim management. VERTEX starts services at cause and origin investigation to provide insight into any environmental claim. Experts in air quality, hazardous materials and pollution are cross-trained and understand the insurance industry to better serve your claim.
Claim Budgeting
Insurance carriers face a number of challenges and have developed varying in-house expertise when it comes to property claims. VERTEX specializes in environmental claims and through decades of services, can supplement in-house capabilities with specific expertise in each of the property lines to help our clients develop realistic closure budgets.
Claim Management
VERTEX focuses our claim management expertise across the gamut of claims including environmental, air quality, catastrophe, and fire/explosion to name a few. VERTEX can supplement your own in-house team or support when claims require specific expertise. Using proprietary technology and executed by the top claim and risk consulting professionals in the industry, VERTEX can offer solutions globally.
Claim Closure
VERTEX experts have a reputation for providing value-added solutions. Expedient, efficient claim closure is essential in adding value. VERTEX is unique in that our environmental professionals also work with developers, real estate owners as well as lenders; because we see environmental matters from all angles, VERTEX is highly proficient at claim closure.
Subrogation
VERTEX understands that environmental claims will oftentimes lead to subrogation. VERTEX has over two decades of experience with subrogation matters and we constantly refine our claim investigation, claim management as well as our documentation protocols to expertly manage your claim so that subrogation can be handled with efficiency.
Expert Witness
VERTEX’s experts have testified in state courts, federal courts, and arbitration. Our experts are qualified in hazardous building material claims, air quality claims, environmental spills, cost estimating, allocation, environmental remediation means and methods, subrogation and claims management.
Additional Information and Typical Scopes of Services
Typical pollution claims include oil and hazardous materials from storage tank releases (AST and UST), oil and hazardous material from industrial facilities, and transportation spills, just to name a few. VERTEX has experience with landfill releases of oil and hazardous material, marine spills, PFAS claims, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) claims as well.
Industrial Hygiene and Building Sciences Claims
- Mold
- Asbestos and lead
- Impact assessment and
- Cause & origin
- Building envelope and construction defect analysis
Pollution Claim Expertise
- Pollution claim cause and origin investigations
- Pollution claim invoice review
- Pollution claim monitoring
- Pollution claim management
- Remedial option feasibility analysis
- Sampling and testing of soil, groundwater, and air
- Standard of care evaluations
- Litigation support and expert witness testimony
Remedial Cost Cap Policy Claims
- Budget and remedial approach evaluations
- Budget tracking
- Change order reviews and evaluations
- Cost to complete evaluations
Natural Resource Damage Assessment Claims
- Review of trustee claims
- Evaluation of the extent of impacts
- Habitat equivalency analysis reviews
- Restoration scalability reviews
- Wildlife and recreation resource impact evaluations
Loss Control Services
- Underwriting support – initial/in-depth exposure assessment
- Loss control surveys
- Carrier representation
- Policy review and risk management
- Technical support risk financing
Services
- Forensics
- Surety Claims Consulting
- Construction Claims Consulting
- Environmental Claims Consulting
- Forensic Engineering
- Forensic Cost Engineering
- Forensic Architecture
- Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigations
- Forensic Fire & Life Safety Claim
- Insurance Appraisal Consulting
- Builder’s Risk and Delay in Start Up (DSU) Insurance Consulting
- Subcontractor Default Insurance Claims Consulting
- Expert Witness & Dispute Resolution
- Standard of Care
Contractor - Standard of Care
Contractor Termination - Standard of Care
Owner - Standard of Care
Architectural & Building Envelope - Delay and Damages
- Productivity Loss
- Termination
- Commercial Damages
- Standard of Care
Structural - Standard of Care
Site Civil - Government Contracts
- Standard of Care
Heavy Civil - Standard of Care
Geotechnical - Standard of Care
MEP - Fire Protection
- Standard of Care Construction Safety
- Delay
CPM Scheduling Expert - Standard of Care Fire Protection and Life Safety
- Delay
Productivity - Delay
Acceleration - Damages Cost of Repair and FAULT ALLOCATION
- Business Interruption & Lost Profits
- Damages
Differing Site Condition - Damages
Added Scope - Environmental Cost Expert
- Environmental Scope Expert Witness Services
- Environmental Schedule Expert Witness Services
- Environmental Compliance Expert Witness Services
- Standard of Care
- Engineering
- Environmental
- Project Advisory
- Construction Management
- Owner’s Representation
- Owner’s Project Management
- Program Management
- Construction Monitoring
- Distressed Project Services
- Project Controls
- Cost Management & Cost Estimating
- Construction Inspections
- Restoration and Tenant Improvements (RTI)
- Market Research & Real Estate Economics
Catherine Pierce
MBA
Director of Growth Strategy Claims, Disputes, and Forensics, Environmental Insurance