Insurance Defense and Coverage
Claims Handling
Diary entries document the adjuster's handling: communications, evaluations, reserve rationale, authority requests, and scheduled follow-up. Most claims systems require entries at set intervals to prevent files from going dormant.
The entries collectively form the narrative record of the claim.
Alternative Names:
Claim Note, File Note, Adjuster Note
Why it Matters?
These notes are read verbatim to juries in bad faith trials, which makes writing discipline a genuine risk control. Entries speculating about a claimant's motives, expressing frustration, or noting a strategy of delay are the exhibits that produce extracontractual verdicts. The corresponding failure is entries so sparse that the file cannot demonstrate the reasonable investigation the insurer says it conducted.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Are diary entries discoverable?
What should adjusters avoid writing?
