From The
Claim Files

Then the calls started coming.

Homeowners overwhelmed by catastrophic losses. Families trapped between confusing policy language and mounting financial pressure. People who knew something about their claim did not feel right — but had no idea how to fight back.

I did.

My name is Robert Hanley. I began my insurance career with American States Insurance Company over 50 years ago. During that time, I handled complex bodily injury claims involving disputed liability and catastrophic injuries — many involving life-changing losses for families and children.

Later in my career, I transitioned exclusively into property losses as an Independent Adjuster. The work demanded a different kind of investigation — causation analysis, repairability disputes, estimating conflicts, policy interpretation, engineering reports, mitigation failures, and claim handling audits.

When I retired in 2025, I believed my days inside claim files were over.

These are the files that find me. The cases that stay with me are the ones where something feels fundamentally wrong.

As a licensed Public Adjuster in Washington State, my role is to represent policyholders during the claim process. I work independently of insurance companies and evaluate losses from the perspective of the insured — not the carrier.

That process begins with investigation.

My approach is straightforward: determine what happened, determine what was missed, determine what it will actually take to properly resolve the loss.

I do not take every file that crosses my desk. I do not work from anger toward the insurance industry — I spent most of my life inside it. I understand both the pressures carriers face and the importance of legitimate claim investigation.

But I also believe policyholders deserve clarity, honesty, accountability, and fair treatment when their lives have been disrupted by catastrophic loss.

This website is not simply about insurance claims.

It is about what happens behind the scenes after disaster strikes. How claim decisions are made. How narratives form inside files. How damages are evaluated. And sometimes — how ordinary people become overwhelmed by systems they were never prepared to navigate alone.

These are those stories.