← Evidence letters

Joint Lab Exam Notice

Send toEveryone involved
WhenEvidence is collected and a lab exam is scheduled

💡 When to use it

Send this letter after evidence has been collected from the scene and your experts are ready to examine it at a lab, often with testing that may alter or destroy it. It invites every interested party to attend and bring their own experts.

  • Give 9 business days to respond. Most companies need time to retain an additional expert, like an engineer, and good experts are busy. Giving them real time to prepare is professionalism at its finest, and it takes away any later argument that they weren't given a fair chance.
  • Name both experts. List your origin-and-cause investigator and, if one is retained, your engineer, with contact information for each.
  • Give the exact lab address, date, and time. Include where the evidence is currently stored.
  • List the evidence being examined. The other side's expert needs to know what they're preparing for.
  • Say plainly if testing may be destructive. That is the whole reason the joint exam matters. A party who was invited and chose not to attend has a much weaker spoliation argument.
  • Send it to every interested party. Carriers, responsible parties, manufacturers, and contractors.

✉️ The letter

Fill in the boxes and the letter updates as you type. Anything you leave blank stays [in brackets]. What you type stays on your device. Free downloads and prints include a light Subrobuddy watermark.

[Adverse Carrier or Responsible Party]
Attn: [Adjuster Name or Claims Department, if a carrier]
[Street Address]
[City, State ZIP]

[Today's Date]

RE: Notice of Joint Lab Exam

Our Insured: [Insured's Name]
Our Claim No.: [Client Claim Number]
Date of Loss: [Date of Loss]
Loss Location: [Loss Address]		Police or Fire Report No.: [Report Number], [Department]
Your Insured: [Responsible Party, if a carrier]
Your Policy No.: [Policy Number, if known]
Your Claim No.: [Claim Number, if known]

Dear [Adjuster Name or Responsible Party Name]:

[Client Name] insures [Insured's Name] and is handling a claim for a loss that occurred on [Date of Loss] at [Loss Location]. [Your Company Name], as recovery agent for [Client Name], is investigating the cause of this loss for subrogation purposes, and you have been identified as a party of interest. Evidence collected from the scene is now ready for examination.

Joint lab exam

A joint lab exam of the evidence will be held on [Exam Date] at [Exam Time] at:

[Lab Name]
[Lab Street Address]
[City, State ZIP]

The exam may include [non-destructive examination, X-ray or CT scanning, disassembly, and destructive testing] of the evidence. Because some testing may alter or destroy the evidence, all interested parties and their experts are invited to attend.

Evidence to be examined

  1. [Item, e.g., water heater and supply line]
  2. [Item, e.g., electrical panel and branch circuit wiring]
  3. [Item]

The evidence is currently stored at [Storage Location] under chain of custody.

Our experts

Origin and cause investigator
[Investigator Name]
[Investigator Company]
[Street Address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Phone] · [Email]

Engineer [if applicable]
[Engineer Name]
[Engineering Company]
[Street Address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Phone] · [Email]

Please respond by [Reply Date, 9 business days from today]

Please confirm whether your office will attend the joint lab exam and provide the names of any experts attending on your behalf. If you would like to propose a testing protocol or have questions about the exam, please contact our office or our experts directly before that date.

Preservation of evidence

All evidence related to this loss must be preserved. If your office or your insured has any other evidence related to this loss, please do not remove, repair, alter, damage, test, or discard it until all interested parties have had the opportunity to examine it. Failure to preserve evidence may result in a claim of spoliation of evidence.

If we do not hear from your office by [Reply Date], the joint lab exam will proceed as scheduled.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

[Name]
[Title]
[Company]
[Address]
[Phone] · [Email]