Throughout the harvest season, there are often questions as to the deadlines for submitting a Notice of Loss and for finalizing a claim. Brad Guthrey, a Field Claims Technical Specialist at AgriSompo North America, explains the timelines within which a Notice of Loss and a claim must be finalized below.
What is the deadline for submitting a Notice of Loss?
A timely Notice of Loss is defined in Section 14(b) of the Common Crop Insurance Policy (23-br), as follows:
For planted crops, a timely submitted NOL is received by an Approved Insurance Provider (AIP), such as AgriSompo North America, within 72 hours of the insured detecting any damage or possible production loss, but no later than 15 days after the end of the insurance period (EOIP).
If revenue is included in the coverage for the planted crop, a NOL may be submitted within 45 days of the Harvest Price Release (HPR) date for any crop that does not have a production loss.
Once 15 days have passed after the EOIP (for production losses), or 45 days have passed after the HPR date (for revenue losses only), a Notice of Loss may still be submitted, but it will be considered a Delayed Notice of Loss (DNOL).
A DNOL will be accepted up to 60 days after the EOIP for non-revenue policies.
A DNOL will be accepted the later of 60 days after the EOIP or 60 days after the HPR date for revenue policies.
It is important to note that this is not an additional 60 days after the point where the notice would be considered timely; the DNOL must be submitted within 60 total days after EOIP (for other than revenue policies) or within 60 total days after the HPR date (for revenue policies). A DNOL will require an insured to answer a few additional questions during the adjustment of the MPCI claim.
Once more than 60 days have passed after the EOIP or HPR date (depending on the policy type), a Notice of Loss may still be submitted but will likely be denied due to the late submission. There are a few exceptions that AIPs may take into consideration when a Notice of Loss is submitted more than 60 days after the later of the EOIP or HPR date.
What is the deadline for finalizing a claim?
Submission of a claim is clarified in Section 14(e) of the Common Crop Insurance Policy (23-br), as follows:
For a policy with any coverage other than revenue, the claim file must be signed and submitted no later than 60 days after the EOIP as long as the information needed to determine the loss is available.
For a policy with revenue coverage, it must be signed and submitted by the later of (1) 60 days after the HPR date, or (2) 60 days after the EOIP as long as the information needed to determine the loss is available.
An extension in writing can be requested; one example which some producers may take advantage of is the 180-day claim delay due to on-farm stored production. A producer must have production in on-farm storage that has not been sold. The producer may sign a 180-day delay form requesting additional time to transport and sell their on-farm stored production and use sold production records to complete their claim, instead of using an on-farm stored measurement that must be completed by the adjuster. It is again important to note that the 180 days starts the day after the EOIP, not the day the producer signs the 180-day delay form. This signature should take place during the adjuster’s initial inspection.
Lastly, all crops have a date listed in the Actuarial Documents (AD) that ends coverage for a particular growing season. If a producer is not going to have harvest completed by this date, they must submit a Notice of Loss stating that they will have unharvested production past the date listed in the AD. The adjuster must complete an appraisal of any and all production that will not be harvested by the EOIP date.
Example
For this example, we will examine a corn policy out of Iowa. Dates will vary for different parts of the country and different crops. Check your insurance documents or contact your AgriSompo North America representative for the dates specific to your policies.
Assume the following:
Harvest was completed on October 15, 2023. This is the date of the End of Insurance Period (EOIP).
The harvest price was announced on November 1, 2023. This is the Harvest Price Release date (HPR).
Notice of Loss Deadlines
For a Yield Protection policy, or a Revenue Protection policy with only a production loss, a timely Notice of Loss must be submitted by 15 days after the EOIP: October 30, 2023. After this date, it will become a Delayed Notice of Loss.
For a Revenue Protection policy with only a revenue loss and no production loss, a timely Notice of Loss must be submitted by 45 days after the HPR: December 16, 2023. After this date, it will become a Delayed Notice of Loss.
Claim Deadlines
For a Yield Protection policy, a claim will be considered "delayed" 60 days after the EOIP: December 14, 2023.
For a Revenue Protection policy, a claim will be considered "delayed" 60 days after the later of the EOIP or the HPR; in this case, the HPR is later, so the claim will be "delayed" after December 31, 2023.