Claim Retention Services

About Us

CRS- An innovative liability claims adminstration company focused on our California client's needs, providing excellent service at fixed fees or competitive hourly rates.

Claim Retention Services was developed to offer California public school districts an opportunity to employ a true advocate for their district’s property and liability claims. Although most of the claims management will occur within the district’s self insured retention, CRS will continue to monitor claims that exceed their retention to ensure the claim is being adjusted with the district’s interest being heard instead of the interest of the excess program. Since CRS is not the claims administrator for any excess insurance program, it is unencumbered and able to be its client’s true advocate.

The company philosophy is incredibly simple, provide superior service to the client via an exemplary work product at a highly competitive cost. An efficient organizational structure without unnecessary staffing and miscellaneous overhead issues allow CRS to concentrate on our client’s expectations. In fact, the district has peace of mind knowing that their claims are not randomly assigned to several employees within the firm who may work a file one day and be gone the next, or never understand the particular needs of a client. The company is committed to an efficient organizational structure due to both superior claims experience and a strong work ethic, resulting in competitive pricing for a client without sacrificing quality.

Neil Butterbaugh is the owner of CRS and is applying his extensive experience of operating a multi-office claims operation to CRS. Since 1986 Neil Butterbaugh has been handling property and liability claims in the state of California and as of 1994 he has focused on California public entities. For seven years Mr. Butterbaugh was the Claims Manager of three large California school JPAs and one of his responsibilities was to conduct claim audits of TPAs that administered the retained claims to the excess JPA. By observing other methods of claims administration, he was able to develop a program that focuses on the needs of the district and provide exemplary service. Dedicated service and being your advocate is the cornerstone of the success of CRS.

TPA Services

Property and casualty claims can be complicated and potentially politically sensitive to our clients. CRS has the staff and experience to assist your organization by providing quality claims services. We can provide full-service claims administration of an entire insurance program, administer your self insured retention to your excess program, or just conduct an investigation and evaluation of a single claim. CRS’s experience has the knowledge to achieve the most cost effective resolution of both simple and complex claims and litigation. We also offer suggestion to our clients to identify areas of potential claims, recommend corrective actions, and can assist in training and implementation of your loss control efforts to prevent future claims.

Our services include:

Full service claims administration
Investigation and evaluation of claims
Selection and supervision of legal counsel
Supervision of litigation
Selection of qualified experts
Negotiation of settlements
Auto Liability and Physical Damage
Premise Liability
General Liability
Employment Practices Liability
Errors and Omissions

Subrogation: We strongly believe subrogation needs to be pursued aggressively. Merely sending letter that go unanswered is just not good enough. We suggest filing small claims court actions to send the message to the responsible party that we will not just give up. If we do have to give up, at least a judgment has been entered against the responsible party.

AOE/COE Investigations

Besides handling liability investigations, CRS also investigates work comp claims by interviewing injured workers to address concerns your work comp adjuster might have about a claim. We charge $80 an hour, $4 a page transcription, $4 a photo and IRS mileage rate.

Consider having CRS conduct your next liability or AOE/COE investigations to see if it is a good fit for your organization and your liability/work comp TPA. We can provide helpful information while cutting costs at the same time. Our field investigators are interested in receiving assignments over a long period of time instead of billing the most out of one assignement. Long term relationships have saved our clients money year in and year out.

If you or your TPA have any questions, please feel free to give us a call. We look forward to working with you and your TPA.

How we got here

Neil Butterbaugh entered the insurance business in 1986 for a large California based insurance carrier where he handled auto, homeowners and commercial liability claims. After three years he was promoted to a supervisor of six claim examiners. After seven years of service with a carrier he joined a third party administrator/management firm where he worked exclusively for California public schools for eleven years. Neil started as a litigation specialist and his last position held was Vice President of Excess Claims. Seven of these years he was responsible for all operations of the Property and Liability Claims Department which had a staff of 17 employees between two offices. The department had a pending caseload of 2,500 files of various exposures that California public schools face. He is experienced in handling employment litigation, Civil Rights claims, free and appropriate education claims, free speech claims, charter school disputes, molestation, brain injury, paligia claims, loss of sight/sense, drowning and serious injury claims. Other exposures California schools face such as Injunctive Relief, Writ of Mandamus, Breach of Contract and ADA violations have been handled by Neil.

Along with operating the claims department, Neil also was responsible for preparing and conducting the JPA's Claims and Coverage meetings where member districts would make decisions on settlements, coverage letters and matters ready for trial. The committees routinely ratified Neil's recommendations up to their 5 million dollar limit of exposure.