AREAS OF SERVICE

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), typically denotes a wide range of dispute resolution processes and techniques that parties can use to

settle disputes, with the help of a third party. They are used for disagreeing parties who cannot come to an agreement short of litigation. However, ADR is also increasingly being adopted as a tool to help settle disputes alongside the court system itself

ARBITRATION

Arbitration, a form of (ADR), is a way to resolve disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons

(the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the 'arbitration award'. An arbitration decision or award is legally binding

on both sides and enforceable in the courts, unless all parties stipulate that the arbitration process and decision are non-binding.

Arbitration is often used for the resolution of commercial disputes, particularly in the context of international commercial transactions. In certain countries such as the United States, arbitration is also frequently employed in consumer and employment matters, where arbitration may be mandated by the terms of employment or commercial contracts and may include a waiver of the right to bring a class action claim. Mandatory consumer and employment arbitration should be distinguished from consensual arbitration, particularly commercial arbitration.

Make sure you engage an Arbiter that is qualified and experienced and that has a thorough understanding of the process.

The CSI Group has participated in and performed numerous Arbitration Proceedings across the country.

We are registered with the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution for Arbitration.

We Have The Solutions to Help You Manage & The Knowledge To Make it Happen!

Arbitration

APPRAISAL

Appraisal is a process frequently found in many insurance policies but is most commonly used in property damage insurance disputes.

The language will usually state that appraisal is mandatory when properly demanded by the insurer or insured.

When properly executed, appraisal is binding on the parties as to the amount of loss only.

Even though the process is widely known and used by the insurance carriers as a recognized process of settling claims disputes,

most insured’s are not aware of the one provision within their insurance coverage policy that if invoked can bring a fast tract resolution and resolve to their disputed claims.

The Appraisal Clause; this is perhaps one of the smallest clauses in a policy, but perhaps, one of the most powerful tools available to both the Insurer and the Insured, but like many tools when they are misused or placed in the wrong hands they can become dangerous weapons

which can cause even greater collateral financial peril and damages to the credibility’s of the parties to whom the process was intended to protect.

What should be, and once was, an amicable provision, the appraisal process has become an adversarial proceeding and in some cases conducted by many who truly do not have the best interest of a true and just loss settlement at heart, and whom perform outside the parameters of their duties and fiduciary responsibilities for unjust personal and financial gains.

Appraisal

Appraisal Clause Example:

If “you” and ”we” fail to agree on the amount of loss, either may demand an appraisal of the loss. In this event, each party will choose a competent and impartial appraiser within 20 days after receiving a written request from the other.

The two appraisers will choose a competent and impartial umpire.

If they cannot agree upon an umpire within 15 days, “you” or “we” may request that the choice be made by a judge of a court of record in the state where the "residence premises" is located.

The appraisers will separately set the amount of loss. If the appraisers submit an agreement to us, the amount agreed upon will be the amount of loss.

If they fail to agree, they will submit their differences to the umpire. A decision agreed to by any two will set the amount of loss.

Each party will:

a. pay its own appraiser, and;

b. Bear the other expenses of the appraisal and umpire equally.

***Make sure you engage an Appraiser that is qualified and experienced and that has a thorough understanding of the process.

The CSI Group has performed over 1000 appraisals across the country and they are considered subject matter experts in the performance duties and role of the appraiser in the process.

We Have The Solutions to Help You Manage & The Knowledge To Make it Happen!

NEUTRAL UMPIRE SERVICES

“I Need a WHAT!?"

Yes, if you’ve made it to Appraisal you need an Umpire!

So you’ve made it to Appraisal, it’s the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded and with two outs and the go ahead run on second base.

No, it’s not the World Series but when you’re in an appraisal surrounding your or someone else’s home and life's belongings, it sure may seem like a fight for the Pendant.

You might even get the old “Who’s on first”? “What’s on Second”? And “I don’t knows on third”!

You’ve made your pitches they’ve swung and missed and when it seems those in the outfield have dropped the ball while some one is stealing home you call a time out. Well after kicking the infield dirt at each other, your only hope is for the team managers [Appraisers] to appeal to the Home Plate Umpire.

And now with the play under review, it’s time for the Umpire’s Call.

Oh, if the world of Insurance Appraisals and Umpire services was that much fun.

Much like a Home Plate Umpire an Insurance Umpire is and should be a competent, disinterested and impartial individual that is charged with the honorable position of making a final decision in the outcome of a Property Loss Dispute.

However this time it isn’t who's safe or who’s out. This time it’s somebody’s past, somebody’s present and somebody’s future.
It is important to understand the duties and responsibilities of an Insurance Appraisal Umpire. It is even more important to conduct a vetting process of your Umpire prior to selection through a series of conflict of interest, experience, and qualification checks.

Make sure you engage an Umpire that is qualified and experienced and that has a thorough understanding of the process.

The CSI Group has presided as Neutral Umpire on over 1000 appraisals across the country and internationally and are considered subject matter experts in the performance duties and role of the Umpire in the Appraisal Process.

While it is customary to be mutually selected as Umpire by the direct Appraisal Panel, CSI holds numerous appointments as Umpire ordered by the courts on both the State, Superior and Federal levels.

We Have The Solutions to Help You Manage & The Knowledge To Make it Happen!

Neutral Umpire

LITIGATION SUPPORT & EXPERT TESTIMONY

We Swear To Tell The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth, So Help Us God!

If you are looking for an Expert Witness or Litigation Support service before or during a trial and you want someone who will tell the truth without bias or prejudice providing impartial justifiable expert evaluations and supporting information without any hidden agendas or interests in the outcome. The CSI Group, LLC provides such services for Attorneys, Insurance Carriers, property owners and contractors across the country.

Over the course of the past eighteen years The CSI Group, LLC has specialized in providing third party impartial dispute resolution through Litigation support and Expert Testimony to both the Insurance and Construction Industries, and Individual Property Owners and their respective representatives.

With his personal demand for honesty and integrity, and his expectation of the same by others, combined with Mr. Robison’s driving force to provide exceptional services, The CSI Group, LLC has earned a strong respect within the Industry as well as within its specialized field of services.

More so and through his vast experiences and the obvious needs within our industry for honest and non biased third party resolution; John has taken his accumulated talents and connections within the industry and turned The CSI Group, LLC into an Industry Leader for honest, accurate and impartial construction related solutions and has earned the respect of many colleagues and associates within this ever changing industry.

As a non biased third party (CSI) will provide an honest and comprehensive resolution to all your construction related disputes.

(CSI) has been engaged on the Expert Level in numerous disputes and court cases as subject matter experts on means, methodologies, and costs of repairs to damaged structures across the country.

We Have The Solutions to Help You Manage & The Knowledge To Make it Happen!

Litigation Support

MEDIATION

Mediation, another form of ADR, is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are encouraged to actively participate in the process. Mediation is a "party-centered" process in that it is focused primarily upon the needs, rights, and interests of the parties. The mediator uses a wide variety of techniques to guide the process in a constructive direction and to help the parties find their optimal solution. A mediator is facilitative in that she/he manages the interaction between parties and facilitates open communication.

Mediation is also evaluative in that the mediator analyzes issues and relevant norms ("reality-testing"), while refraining from providing prescriptive advice to the parties (e.g., "You should do...").

Mediation, as used in law, is a form of ADR resolving disputes between two or more parties with concrete effects. Typically, a third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate a settlement.

Disputants may mediate disputes in a variety of domains, such as commercial, legal, diplomatic, workplace, community, and family matters.

The term mediation broadly refers to any instance in which a third party helps others reach an agreement. More specifically, mediation has a structure, timetable, and dynamics that "ordinary" negotiation lacks. The process is private and confidential, possibly enforced by law. Participation is typically voluntary. The mediator acts as a neutral third party and facilitates rather than directs the process. Mediation is becoming a more peaceful and internationally accepted solution to end the conflict. Mediation can be used to resolve disputes of any magnitude.

Mediators use various techniques to open, or improve, dialogue and empathy between disputants, aiming to help the parties reach an agreement. Much depends on the mediator's skill and training.

Make sure you engage an Mediator that is qualified and experienced and that has a thorough understanding of the process.

The CSI Group has participated in and performed numerous Mediation Proceedings across the country.

We are registered with the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution for Mediation.

We Have The Solutions to Help You Manage & The Knowledge To Make it Happen!

Mediation

LOSS CONSULTING

BUILDING / CONSTRUCTION CONSULTING

We can’t stop the wind from blowing, the earth from quaking, the waters from rising or the flames from burning…

However, we do know that after a loss is when you need the most help and have the most questions and unfortunately the most problems.

The CSI Group takes the monkey business out of your Property Loss Claim Valuations.

We are Property Loss Valuation Experts accustomed to working with Large Loss Evaluations in some of the most highly devastated areas after any Major Catastrophic Event you may encounter.

We can carry you effortlessly through the hardest part of the loss process, which is proving the Amount of Loss and Damages that were sustained.

Our Local & Regional Loss Consultants all have Extensive Construction and General Contracting Backgrounds.

Each of our staff attend Numerous Seminars, Continuing Education Programs and receive Numerous Certifications throughout the year.

The CSI Group, LLC is committed to providing each of our employees the proper Training and Tools to assure that you receive 100% Customer Satisfaction!

Utilizing The CSI Group as a Non-Biased Impartial third party resolution and support service provider; Contractors, Carriers, and Property Owners alike, have been able to Amicably Resolve their Claims and Dispute Issues, while Drastically Reducing Their Costs in providing Accurate and Just Compensation and Repairs to those that have experienced a Catastrophic Loss.

When Disaster Strikes, The CSI Group Is At Your Side!

We Have The Solutions to Help You Manage & The Knowledge To Make it Happen!

PROJECT AUDITS / CLERK OF THE WORKS

Holy COW........What is Clerk Of The Works!?

By definition; The Clerk Of The Works historically is employed by the architect or client on a construction site or by Local Authorities to oversee public works and the role is primarily to represent the interests of the client in regard to ensuring the quality of both materials and workmanship are in accordance with the design information such as specification and engineering drawings, in addition to recognized quality standards. The Clerk Of The Works can also be employed by the client (State Body/Local Authority/Private Client) to monitor Design and Build projects where the traditional role of the architect is within the Design and Build project team.

The role, to this day, is based on the impartiality of the Clerk of Works in ensuring value for money for the client - rather than the contractor - and is achieved through rigorous and detailed inspection of materials and workmanship throughout the build process. In many cases, the traditional title has been discarded to comply with modern trends, such as Site Inspector, Architectural Inspector and Quality Inspector, but the requirement for the role remains unchanged since the origins of the title.

The Clerk of Works is a very isolated profession on site. He/she is the person that must ensure quality of both materials and workmanship and, to this end, must be absolutely impartial and independent in his/her decisions and judgments. He/she cannot normally, by virtue of the quality role, be employed by the contractor - only the client, normally by the architect on behalf of the client. His/her role is not to judge, but simply to report all occurrences that are relevant to the role.

Clerks of Works are either on site all the time or make regular visits. They need to be vigilant in their inspections of a large range of technical aspects of the work. This involves:

Making sure that work is carried out to the client's standards, specification, correct materials, workmanship, and schedule
Becoming familiar with all the relevant drawings and written instructions, checking them, and using them as a reference when inspecting work
Making visual inspections
Taking measurements and samples on site to make sure that the work and the materials meet the specifications and quality standards
Being familiar with legal requirements and checking that the work complies with them.
Having a working knowledge of health and safety legislation and bringing any shortfalls observed to the attention of the Resident Engineer.
Advising the contractor about certain aspects of the work, particularly when something has gone wrong but this advice should not be interpreted as an instruction

However, and even though the main role of The Clerk Of The Works still remains the same, its duties have been refined and specialized for the Insurance / Restoration Industries. More and more the Clerk Of The Works is being utilized as a job cost audit tool on large commercial remediation and restoration projects being performed on a Time and Material basis.

In the instance of Insurance loss funding, the importance of this can be recognized by not only by the Insurance Carrier, but also the Contractor providing the services and most importantly the insured.

The CSI Group, LLC can perform these services with confidence and accuracy assurance to our clients. We provide “Real Time, On-Site”, observations, monitoring and cost validations of large commercial restoration projects including:

Verify daily equipment “on site only” compared to actual usage
Verify employee daily work log in / log out
Verify materials used / billed
Verify actual job progress against invoice billings
Verify permitting and inspections
Verify scope compliances
Verify OSHA and safety compliances
Verify insurance certificates and compliances
Perform total job cost audits daily through completion

“Value is defined by the risk you take multiplied by the quality of the product or service you are provided divided by the amount you spend”.

The CSI Group Understands

When Disaster Strikes...Time Counts...Money Matters

We Have The Solutions to Help You Manage & The Knowledge To Make it Happen!

PROBABLE MAXIMUM LOSS

This new service provided by CSI will assist Insureds and Insurers with Calculations of Reserves, Co-Insurance Penalties, Depreciation Assessments, and the Cataloging of Pre Loss Tangible Assets.

The CSI Group Understands

The Loss is The Loss, Nothing More, Yet Nothing Less

We Have The Solutions to Help You Manage & The Knowledge To Make it Happen!