By Chris Cheatham
As a young construction attorney working for sureties, I learned firsthand how expensive it can be to investigate a project gone sideways. I still have nightmares of looking through hundreds of thousands of documents for one single RFI log. But through this experience, I also realized that it would be very easy to save money when documents have to be collected, stored and ultimately reviewed.
The same money-saving strategies I learned in litigation can also be applied to bond claim investigations. In my experience, the surety industry is not efficiently collecting and reviewing documents. The following three steps will save most sureties money when collecting and reviewing documents for a claims investigation.
1. Scan documents; eliminate paper. Numerous parties are involved in a claims investigation, including in-house staff in multiple locations, outside consultants and attorneys. Sending paper documents is both time consuming and expensive. Project documents should be scanned into an electronic format. These electronic documents can easily be shared between parties via email or an FTP site.
2. Retain the organization of the original documents. On project sites, paper documents are typically filed in folders and placed in cabinets or boxes. When copying documents for a claim investigation, the folder and file names — what we call “key information” — should be retained and associated with the scanned documents. This will allow the claim handler or consultant to quickly sort and review documents as if they were going through the original project file.
3. Use document review software. In order to quickly sort and review documents based on key information, the documents must be loaded into document review software. Many law firms use similar e-discovery software to review documents obtained during discovery. Furthermore, it is wholly inefficient to click and open each document, one by one. Document review software substantially streamlines the document review process.
Cheatham Consulting has put together a solution that cost-effectively delivers these three steps for surety claim investigations. Contact us today to learn how you can cost-effectively implement these steps for your next claims investigation.
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