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