business insurance query

special_-_kay23

hi if im not in thet right place then im sorry but im just wondering if anybody would be able to help. I know somebody who recently completed some plumbing work for a hotel. they paid by cheque for the completed work, but 2days later a seperate leak occurred, and by the hotels admission it wasnt from the newly fitted water tank but from another tank entirely. they cancelled the cheque 3days after and are now trying to make an insurance claim against the person who completed the work. he has requested an independent plumbers report and after receiving some legal advice requested the full outstanding payment to be made, as they are in breach of a previously drawn up contract.
the only correspondence he has received back from them was a letter stating that the issue was now in the hands of their insurers. would it be common practice for an insurer to get the policy holder to contact the third party they are citing to blame????the hotel stated that they needed his business insurance certificates in order to continue with their claim,something that they know the person who completed the work does not have. Its all very confusing but basically he was working for another company doing plumbing at the hotel when the hotel owners approached him and asked him to complete the work himself and then start up a service contract, he had no intentions of working for himself before they suggested this, and the service contract was running for less than a month before this incident occurred.
how can an insurance company assess 'damages and fault'- surely that would be done to an indepedent plumber. and i would have thought that if in the hands of the insurers they would be making contact themselves on behalf of the hotel
could this all be a stalling technique to pay the money they owe-which totals nearly a grand
any advice would be great!

Quentin

The plumber should just pursue the customer for an unpaid bill, just like any other customer who's cheque bounces.