Our insured sustained a covered loss and made a business income loss claim under form CP 00 30 07 88 . The company requested the insured provide accounting documentation to support the claim.

To comply with the request from the insurance company, the insured requested his accountant to accumulate the data and provide a report to the company. The accountant charged the insured for his time and we submitted the invoice to the insurance company. They have disclaimed responsibility stating that the insured did not have the right under the policy to hire an accountant to prepare the records. If such assistance was required, according to the insurer, the company would hire its own accountants.

It is our contention that our insured, who does not customarily deal with income accounting records would not be familiar with the type of documentation required. When the company requested the insured to submit reports, etc., they became obligated to assume the costs of the accounting fees.