Insurer assigned claim does not have discretion to delay payments based on due diligence investigation

Allstate and Great Lakes Casualty were in the Court of Appeals this month, arguing over who should be required to pay PIP benefits of approximately $800,000.00 to injured Hassan Sareini. The case centered on Great Lakes' argument that Allstate should have ignored its assignment under the Plan and should instead have turned the claim over to Great Lakes. By this logic, Great Lakes argued that Allstate was not eligible for reimbursement of expenses. The Court pointed out that Great Lakes had originally denied the claim and that the Assigned Claims plan was not in error when it concluded that Sareini was not "obviously ineligible" for benefits. Therefore, under the statute, Allstate was required to pay benefits and could not delay payment while it undertook a "due diligence" assessment that might have disclosed Great Lakes' willingness to pay.