Stakeholders, Parties, and Who Gets Notified
The difference between case parties and stakeholders, how multi-add works, and exactly who gets CC'd on every outbound message.
You'll learn
- The difference between structural parties and stakeholders
- How to bulk-add multiple stakeholders at once
- Who AwardLettr CCs on status updates, message sends, and signed documents
- How and when to set a carrier claim inbox email
Picture a case with five people who all want updates: the carrier adjuster, the opposing appraiser, the insured's public adjuster, the insured's attorney, and the insured's contractor. You want the status update to go to the opposing appraiser as the primary recipient, with the right people CC'd, and you do NOT want the attorney's email to accidentally replace the opposing appraiser's on the next signed document. This is where the parties-vs-stakeholders model earns its keep.
Without a clear model, the wrong things happen quietly. You forget who is CC'd on what. A sensitive draft estimate lands in the wrong inbox. Someone who absolutely should have been notified is missing from the recipient list. Or worse, you put a public adjuster in the opposing appraiser field and they end up on the award letter as an appraiser of record. None of these errors are flashy, but each one costs you a phone call to fix.
Most useful for any case with more than the basic triad of carrier, insured, and opposing appraiser. If your file has a public adjuster, attorney, contractor, claims inbox, or co-counsel, this is the model you need to internalize.
Every appraisal in AwardLettr has two layers of people attached. Parties are structural. They define the case. Stakeholders are additional people who need visibility but are not core to the case structure. Knowing which is which makes notifications behave the way you expect.
Parties vs Stakeholders
Parties
Carrier, insured, opposing appraiser, umpire, adjuster. These are structural to the case. They show on the award letter, drive the workflow, and have dedicated fields.
Stakeholders
Public adjuster, attorney, the insured's contractor, a co-counsel. Anyone who needs visibility on the case but is not one of the named parties on the award.
A useful test: if the person's name belongs on the award letter or panel declaration, they are a party. If not, they are a stakeholder. Public adjusters and attorneys almost always belong in stakeholders, not parties.
Adding Stakeholders in Bulk
On most appraisals you end up adding two or three stakeholders at once (the public adjuster, the insured's contractor, sometimes an attorney). The Stakeholders panel supports multi-select so you can grab them all in one pass.
Open the Stakeholders panel
On the appraisal detail page, click Add Stakeholders.
Search and select
Type a name. Results from your contacts directory appear. Click multiple people to stage them all for adding.
Watch for the "already linked" indicator
If a contact is already attached to this appraisal they show a checkmark badge so you do not double-add.
Add them in one click
Press Add Selected. All staged contacts are linked to the appraisal at once.
Set notification preferences per stakeholder
After adding, open each stakeholder card and check which message types they should receive (status updates, signed documents, etc.).
Who Gets CC'd on What
Different outbound message types have different default CC behavior. The table below covers the common ones. You can always tweak recipients in the message dialog before sending.
| Message type | Primary recipient | Auto CC'd |
|---|---|---|
| Status update | Opposing appraiser | Adjuster, carrier-claim-email (if set), any stakeholder flagged for notifications |
| Booking link | Opposing appraiser | Public adjuster (if stakeholder + flagged), adjuster (optional) |
| Signed award letter | All signing parties | Adjuster, carrier-claim-email (if set), stakeholders flagged for signed documents |
| Signed panel declaration | All signing parties (including umpire) | Adjuster, carrier-claim-email (if set), stakeholders flagged for signed documents |
| Umpire brief | Umpire | Opposing appraiser (optional) |
| Invoice | Invoice recipient (carrier, TPA, insured, attorney, etc.) | Nobody by default. Add CCs in the dialog if needed. |
The Carrier Claim Email
A lot of carriers route everything through a general claims inbox (something like newclaims@example-insurance.com) rather than the adjuster's personal mailbox. AwardLettr supports a dedicated carrier_claim_email field on every appraisal exactly for this. Set it once and it gets auto-CC'd on status updates and signed documents.
Set it from intake
Notification snapshots can drift
Stakeholder Notification Preferences
Each stakeholder has their own notification toggles. A public adjuster might want every status update plus signed documents. An attorney might only want signed documents and the final report. Set this per stakeholder so you are not over-emailing people who only need milestone visibility.
Default assumption
- Every stakeholder gets every email
- Stakeholder preferences are global per contact
- Notification list refreshes automatically when parties change
How AwardLettr actually works
- Stakeholders only get the message types you check on their card
- Preferences are per appraisal per stakeholder
- Snapshot at add-time. Re-confirm the recipient list when key parties change.
Common pitfalls
- •Assuming all stakeholders get every status email. They only get the message types you check in their preferences on this specific appraisal.
- •Forgetting to set the carrier claim email when the adjuster's personal email should not be the primary recipient. Some carriers will not act on email that did not hit the central inbox.
- •Adding a public adjuster or attorney as a party (in the appraiser fields) instead of a stakeholder. They end up on the award letter and look like an appraiser of record.
- •Trusting the auto-CC list without checking it in the message dialog after a party change mid-case. Old recipients can linger and new ones can be missing.
Related Articles
The Appraisal Lifecycle From Intake to Close
Walk through every status on an appraisal, what triggers the next move, and how the carrier and insured paths diverge.
Deleted Appraisals: The 30-Day Trash Bucket
Deleting an appraisal moves it to a 30-day trash bucket. Restore anytime in that window. After 30 days it is permanently purged.