“Quinley” is an Irish name. My descendants undoubtedly hailedfrom Hibernia. My Irish acted up while scanning the results of arecent Greenwich Associates study about claim service. Perhaps Iwas the only reader doing a double-take, reading a BusinessInsurance article titled “Claims Service Quality Varies Widely:Study.”

On one level, this seems to be a dog-bites-man story. The factthat claim service varies by carrier is no more shocking than, say,the notion that underwriting expertise varies by company orinvestment management savviness, and so on. Tell me something Idon't know. This is akin to headlines announcing that gravitycauses objects to fall, stocks vary on return and yields, andBritney enters rehab again. Gee, thanks for this hard-hittingnews.

That, however, is not what piqued my Irish tendencies. Thewriter quoted an anonymous construction risk manager lamenting poorclaim quality. The evidence presented was the fact that commercialinsurers “are quick to issue reservation of rights letters on someclaims.”