One of my insured individuals received a letter from a lawyer concerning such a claim. The lawyer asserts that their client tripped and fell outside my insured's store.
Are you an insurance agent? If not, what do you mean when you describe this person as "[o]ne of my insured individuals"?
Is it correct that you have not directed the insured to inform the insurer's claims department about the allegation?
However, my insured claims there was no resulting injury.
Would you like to guess about the percentage of cases in which there was, in fact, an injury, despite someone claiming there wasn't? Is your insured a doctor who conducted a through physical exam of the other person?
I'm wondering if negotiation is possible between my insured and the lawyer in this scenario.
Of course it's possible.
Typically, I advise insured individuals to contact claims to handle such matters.
So...the answer to my question above is that you did not direct the insured to contact the claims department. Correct? And the reason for that is solely because of the insured's contention that "there was no resulting injury"?
If, in fact, you are an agent, I strongly suggest you confer with all insurers for which you write policies and ask what they want you to do in a scenario like this. You should also review your contracts with these insurers to determine whether you have a duty to inform the insurer in a scenario like this.
I'M just curious if the insured can negotiate it with the lawyer, or maybe just have insurance company to handle it.
Negotiation is something that requires at least two parties. The insured can
attempt to negotiate. Whether the claimant's lawyer will engage is obviously impossible for any of us to predict.
That said, you might want to familiarize yourself with the section of this insured's policies that discusses the duties of the insured upon becoming aware of facts that might give rise to a claim. I'm confident that you'll find that the insured's duty to inform the insurer of something like this exists regardless of any actual or attempted negotiation between the insured and a claimant or claimant's representative.
