How long does a Georgia carrier have to decide an inland marine claim?

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Quick answer: Under Georgia's Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act (O.C.G.A. 33-6-30 to 37), the carrier must acknowledge the claim within 15 calendar days and, for a first-party property claim, affirm or deny within 15 days of a completed proof of loss or within 30 days of the claim being reported. Under O.C.G.A. 33-4-6, a bad-faith refusal can cost the carrier up to 50 percent of the loss or 5,000 dollars, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees.

Georgia law sets specific deadlines for how a carrier must handle an inland marine claim once it is reported. Under the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act (O.C.G.A. 33-6-30 to 33-6-37), a carrier must acknowledge receipt of the claim within 15 calendar days. For a first-party property claim, which is what an inland marine claim is (the policyholder claiming against their own policy, rather than a third party claiming against someone else's liability policy), the carrier must affirm or deny coverage within 15 days of receiving a completed proof of loss, or within 30 days of the claim being reported if no proof of loss has been requested.

A proof of loss is the documentation a policyholder submits to support the claim: an itemized list of damaged or stolen property, its value, and evidence supporting that value, such as receipts, photographs, or serial numbers. The clock for the carrier's decision runs from when that documentation is complete, not from the date of the loss itself.

Example: a Georgia HVAC contractor reports $15,000 in stolen equipment on a Monday. The carrier acknowledges the claim within the required 15-day window. The contractor submits photographs, purchase receipts, and a police report two weeks later, completing the proof of loss. From that submission date, the carrier has 15 days to either approve or deny the claim.

If a carrier denies a claim in bad faith - without a reasonable basis grounded in the policy terms or the facts of the loss - O.C.G.A. 33-4-6 allows a policyholder to recover a penalty of up to 50 percent of the loss or 5,000 dollars, whichever is greater, in addition to attorney's fees. This remedy applies on top of the underlying claim payment, not instead of it, once bad faith is established.

These timelines apply to inland marine claims the same way they apply to other first-party property claims in Georgia; they do not depend on the type of property involved. What the underlying policy will and will not pay for is a separate question from these procedural deadlines; see what does inland marine insurance cover in Georgia, despite the name and does inland marine cover employee theft of tools in Georgia for common exclusions that affect whether a claim is approved at all. General policy mechanics are on the Georgia inland marine insurance page, and carriers writing this coverage are listed on the carriers page. A coverage review can confirm what documentation a specific policy requires for a proof of loss.