Legal and Claims Recovery — Glossary

Business interruption is the financial loss a company suffers when operations halt due to a covered event, measured in lost revenue and extra expenses.

Chain of custody is the documented, unbroken record of who handled evidence, when, and under what conditions, from collection to courtroom.

A working definition of chargeback fraud and friendly fraud for recovery firms, brand protection practices, and high-risk merchant processors.

A working definition of civil asset forfeiture for recovery practitioners: how governments seize property, the legal framework, and how recovery firms contest it.

Escheatment is the legal process of transferring abandoned property to state custody after a statutory dormancy period expires, creating recovery opportunity for audit firms.

Insurance bad faith occurs when an insurer unreasonably denies, delays, or underpays a valid claim, exposing it to liability beyond the policy limits.

Judgment enforcement is the post-litigation process of converting a court award into actual payment through asset discovery, liens, garnishment, and levy.

Skip tracing is the process of locating individuals or entities who have deliberately or inadvertently disappeared to evade payment, service of process, or asset recovery.

Subrogation is the legal right of an insurer or other party to step into the shoes of a claimant and pursue recovery from a liable third party.

A confession of judgment lets a creditor enter judgment against a borrower without trial. Used in merchant cash advance and specialty finance, it carries strict procedural rules and state-level restrictions.

A contingency recovery fee is a success-only arrangement where an expense audit firm earns a percentage of the dollars it actually recovers or saves for the client.

A proof of claim in high-stakes recovery is the formal document a judgment creditor files to establish a debt owed by an estate, trust, or dissolved entity.

A proof of loss is the formal sworn statement a policyholder submits to an insurer to document a claim and trigger the carrier's duty to investigate and pay.

A public adjuster is a licensed claims professional who represents policyholders, not insurers, in negotiating and settling property insurance claims.

A working definition of waiver of subrogation for insurance recovery and claims professionals: how it operates, where it creates exposure, and common drafting errors.

A binding dispute resolution mechanism in property insurance policies that resolves coverage amount disagreements without litigation.