Dispute Resolution, Insurance, and Points of Convergence

This essay explores the intersection of dispute resolution and insurance. I come to the intersection from the perspective of insurance law, where statutes, administrative rules, and common law regulate the industry and the policyholder-insurer relationship. At its core, the business of insurance offers individuals, businesses, and other kinds of organizations a risk management alternative which enables them to acquire some measure of control over an uncertain future. But when a loss occurs, the business of insurance becomes the business of claims processing and, when disagreements arise, dispute resolution.

Surprisingly, the academic study of insurance law has not borrowed heavily from the body of understandings acquired through the years in the academic study of dispute resolution. Thus, the field of dispute resolution is a largely untapped resource for deepening our understandings of how insurance claims are resolved and how existing insurance dispute resolution processes might be improved in the future. Given the importance of the insurance industry, the intersection of insurance and dispute resolution is a promising space for further exploration.