Smartphones have had a big impact on all manner of things. This includes in how people take videos. With the cameras on modern smartphones, people have a way to take relatively high-quality videos right at their fingertips. Videos taken by smartphones can show up in all sorts of places. This includes in homeowners insurance claims.
For instance, Consumer Reports has recently recommended taking videos of the property in one’s home using a smartphone or other basic methods as a simple way for consumers to create a basic property inventory record for their home. The idea is that such a record can be used in the event that one ends up making an insurance claim for property loss in the future.
And this is just one of the types of smartphone video that could have relevance to a claim a homeowners’ insurer receives. One wonders if such insurers will see more and more claims-related smartphone videos as smartphone video technology continues to improve and the use of smartphones continues to grow.
Video footage related to an insurance claim, such as smartphone footage taken by a policyholder, is one of the many types of evidence that could be relevant in disputes that arise over such a claim. When such evidence has been brought forward in a claims dispute, it can be important for an insurer to understand what impacts the evidence could have in the case, what rules are associated with this type of evidence and what issues are important ones to look into in relation to the evidence. Insurance defense attorneys can provide insurance companies that are dealing with claims disputes with guidance on video evidence issues and other evidence-related matters.
Source: WJAR, “Using video for homeowners’ insurance,” March 24, 2017
