Tort Liability Claims Handling
Upon the recommendation of the Managers Committee, the Executive Committee of the California JPIA took action to provide members with an additional alternative for the handling of liability claims filed against them.  The new alternative allows the member to delegate the entire claims handling responsibility to the Authority, which eliminates the need for the member’s staff or legislative body to take action or send letters to claimants.

Under current practice, claims presented to the clerk of the member agency are forwarded to Carl Warren & Company, the third party administrator for the Authority.    Carl Warren staff reviews each claim for its merits and contacts the member agency with a requested action.  When the determination is made that the claim should be rejected, there are several possible courses of action depending upon the claim and prior actions of the legislative body:

1. The legislative body of the member agency can take no action, and the claim will be deemed rejected by course of law 45 days after it is presented to the clerk.  By allowing the claim to be rejected by course of law, the time period in which a lawsuit may be filed is two years from the date of the occurrence.

2. The legislative body may choose to reject the claim at a public meeting and send written notice of the rejection.  This reduces the time period in which a claimant may file a lawsuit to six months following the rejection. 

Many members have taken the actions necessary to implement the third alternative:

3. The legislative body may, by resolution, delegate the claims handling responsibility to a member of staff.  That staff member then rejects the claim, again shortening the time period in which to file a lawsuit to six months. 

The new alternative allows further streamlining of the process:

4. The legislative body may, by resolution, delegate the claims handling responsibility in its entirety to the Authority, allowing the Authority to send notice of the rejection and shortening the timeframe in which to file a lawsuit to six months.

Please download the Delegation of Claims Handling response form indicating the claims handling option your agency has elected to employ.  If your agency decides to employ alternative #3 or #4, a proper resolution must be passed. 

• Delegation of Claims Handling response form  [ PDF | Word ]

You may download the following sample resolutions:

• Resolution Delegating Basic Claims Handling to Agency Staff  [ PDF | Word ]
• Resolution Delegating Claims Handling to California JPIA  [ PDF | Word ]

The response form and certified copy of the adopted resolution should be mailed to the attention of Tammie Haller, Senior Management Analyst.