What are Average Adjusters?

Not everything which a Shipowner may claim is covered by the policy. Similarly, not everything which Underwriters might initially refuse to pay deserves to be omitted from a claim.

There is a lot of grey area, a lot of case law and a considerable amount of custom and practice to consider. This is the function of the Average Adjuster : to sift through all relevant documents and information, to ascertain whether a Shipowners' claim is covered by the policy, to obtain technical advices (many machinery damage claims are quite complex and require a lot of investigation and correspondence to establish their validity in terms of the policy) to liaise with Shipowners, Insurance Brokers, Underwriters’ Surveyors, cargo interests and to draw up the statement of claim for presentation to Underwriters.

The terms of reference, however, are often sufficiently wide as to permit considerable flexibility in interpretation and, as a result,  Adjusters are frequently called upon to exercise judgement on a variety of contentious points.

In business, just as one would not wish to become involved in litigation without appointing a lawyer, or prepare a company audit without employing an accountant, so, in the matter of marine claims, it is of considerable advantage to appoint an Average Adjuster, who is the accepted expert in his field.

It is a quirk of the London Marine Insurance Market that, although the appointment of the Average Adjuster is made or approved by the Shipowner, the fees and expenses of the Adjuster are met by the insurer as part of the overall claim. It is not evident whether this influences the Adjuster to remain impartial but it seems to be a fair compromise.