In this episode of Portfolio Perspective: Managing Risk & Seizing Opportunity, Andrew Pace sits down with Mike Peplinski, Vice President at Harding Brooks Insurance Agency, to unpack key legal and insurance challenges in today’s asset recovery space. As litigation pressure continues to rise, Mike provides actionable guidance for lenders, agents, and service providers on how to manage risk, protect themselves, and operate compliantly — even as legal, regulatory, and contract pressures evolve.

Key Topics Discussed:

• The rising trend in wrongful repossession lawsuits and litigation funding
• Invalid assignments and contract enforcement challenges
• How indemnification language creates exposure for recovery vendors
• The growing importance of documentation, body cams, and video evidence
• Insurance claim denials: where contracts often go wrong
• Vendor management, subcontracting risks, and ensuring proper licensing
• The role of bank consolidation and shifting dynamics in recovery partnerships
• The importance of safety culture, training, and proactive risk mitigation

Notable Takeaways:

“You know, five years ago, you’d get one or two claims here and there. Now you get multiple claims every single month on invalid assignments.”

“Probably 40% of the claims that we have going on today are invalid assignment issues, and most of them are no fault of the recovery agent.”

“When you don’t have any type of audio or video, you are basically negotiating with your checkbook because you have nothing to defend yourself with.”

“If you're subcontracting out a lot of your work, you better know who you're working with, because if you're going to indemnify a client, and you're having a subcontractor do the work, you are taking all the responsibility if something goes wrong.”

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