Services
Document a loss
Support a claim
For carriers and employers
Service areas
Middle Tennessee
- Nashville
- Clarksville
- Murfreesboro
- Franklin
- Hendersonville
- Smyrna
- Spring Hill
- Gallatin
- Lebanon
- Columbia
- Brentwood
- Mount Juliet
- La Vergne
- Cookeville
East Tennessee
West Tennessee
Investigation Support for Insurance Defense Counsel
Delator Claims Division provides field investigation to attorneys defending insureds on behalf of insurance carriers, self-insured entities and third-party administrators. This service is not offered to policyholders or claimants, who can instead request neutral documentation. Delator works at counsel's direction and does not give legal advice.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
By the time a claim reaches defense counsel, a complaint has been filed and the facts are no longer being gathered for an adjuster's evaluation. They are being gathered for discovery, depositions and possibly trial. The witnesses on the crash report have to be found again. The scene has to be seen by someone who can later describe it. Claims in the complaint have to be checked against what can be shown.
Delator handles that field work under the direction of the defense attorney. Counsel decides what is needed and how the results will be used. Delator locates and interviews witnesses, documents the scene as it now exists, retrieves records, and serves subpoenas through Delator Field Services. Delator is not a law firm and offers no opinion on strategy, liability or the value of the case.
Points in litigation where counsel calls for field work
- A newly assigned lawsuit arrives with a thin claim file, and counsel needs the scene and witnesses examined before answering written discovery.
- A plaintiff's deposition is approaching, and the attorney wants the allegations in the complaint compared with physical conditions at the location.
- Witnesses listed years ago have moved or changed phone numbers and must be found before trial subpoenas can be issued.
- The plaintiff's interrogatory answers identify prior addresses, employers or incidents that counsel wants confirmed through public records.
- A retained expert needs current measurements and photographs of the location, taken to the expert's specifications, without traveling to Tennessee.
What defense investigation support covers
- Witness location
- Finding current addresses and contact details for witnesses named in reports, pleadings or discovery, and confirming them by direct contact.
- Witness interviews for counsel
- Voluntary interviews of non-party witnesses on topics counsel specifies, reported to the attorney in the form requested, whether memorandum, recorded statement or signed declaration draft.
- Current-condition scene record
- Photographs, video and measurements of the location as it exists now, with notes identifying changes since the date of loss where they can be established.
- Public-record background
- Court filings, prior claims disclosed in litigation, property and business records concerning parties and witnesses, gathered from public sources only.
- Expert field assistance
- Site access, measurements, photographs and vehicle inspections performed to a retained expert's written instructions and delivered in the expert's preferred format.
- Subpoena service and records pickup
- Service of trial and deposition subpoenas through Delator Field Services, and in-person collection of records produced in response.
From request to delivered record
- RequestCall dispatch or submit the request form with the location, loss type and urgency.
- DeployDispatch assigns the nearest available licensed field investigator through the statewide network.
- DocumentPhotographs, video, measurements and factual notes are captured once the scene is safe to work.
- PreserveFiles are timestamped, organized and kept in their original form with a record of who captured them.
- ReportThe package is delivered securely to the requesting party, typically the same day.
Working at counsel's direction
When counsel retains Delator, the attorney sets the scope and receives the results. Reports go to the law firm, not to the carrier or the insured, unless counsel instructs otherwise. How communications and work product are treated in the litigation is a question for the attorney. Delator follows counsel's instructions on labeling, format, and whether findings are delivered in writing or by telephone first.
Investigators do not contact a represented party. Before any witness is approached, counsel confirms whether that person is a party, an employee of a party, or is known to have an attorney. In interviews, the investigator states that they work for attorneys defending the lawsuit. Witnesses are not pressured, paid for their account, or told what other witnesses have said. A witness who is hostile or unhelpful is reported accurately so counsel knows what to expect.
Old scenes, scattered witnesses and what can still be found
Litigation often begins long after the event. An intersection may have been restriped, a store remodeled, a stairway rebuilt. Delator documents the present condition and then looks for the past one: dated street-level imagery, permit and public works records, earlier photographs held by the insured, and people who remember the old layout. The report keeps the two apart so that nobody mistakes a current photograph for the condition on the date of loss.
Witnesses are scattered in the same way. The independent witness from the crash report may now live in another county and may not know a lawsuit exists. Finding them, confirming they are the right person, and learning what they still remember gives counsel a basis for deciding whom to depose and whom to call. Delator's personnel have accident reconstruction experience, which helps in asking witnesses precise questions about positions, distances and timing.
This service is available to insurance carriers, self-insured entities, third-party administrators and the attorneys who represent them. Delator reports facts and observed indicators; decisions on coverage, liability, settlement and any fraud referral remain with the client.
It is not offered to policyholders or claimants, and Delator does not act as a public adjuster. Policyholders and claimants can request neutral scene documentation instead.
Common questions about this service
Who is Delator's client on a defense assignment?
The retaining attorney or law firm, acting for the carrier, self-insured entity or administrator and its insured. Counsel directs the work and receives the reports. Delator does not give legal advice or opinions about the merits, and does not communicate findings to others without counsel's instruction.
Can your investigator testify about what was found?
The investigator who performed the work can testify as a fact witness to what was personally observed, photographed, measured and collected. Whether any testimony or exhibit is received is decided by the court. Delator does not offer opinions on legal fault.
Will you contact the plaintiff?
No. A plaintiff in litigation is a represented party, and Delator's investigators do not contact represented parties. Communication with the plaintiff goes through the attorneys. Field work is directed at non-party witnesses, public records and the physical scene.
Do you take assignments from plaintiff's attorneys?
Not for this service. Carrier-side investigation is offered to counsel for carriers, self-insureds and administrators. Attorneys for claimants can retain Delator for neutral documentation, which records physical conditions at a scene, vehicle or property without investigative work directed at any person.
Available statewide, including
Every Tennessee county is covered. See the deployment map for typical response tiers by county.
Request documentation anywhere in Tennessee
Dispatch is staffed around the clock. For time-sensitive scenes, calling is fastest; the request form works for routine and scheduled assignments.