---
title: "PENDING_ADJUSTER is a promise, not a queue"
description: "PENDING_ADJUSTER is the typed state a claim takes at a reserved act. It names the act and the license, and clears only on attestation."
date: "2026-10-09"
tag: "Architecture"
url: "https://api.insure/blog/pending-adjuster"
---

# PENDING_ADJUSTER is a promise, not a queue

When a claim reaches an act only a licensed adjuster may perform, the API says so in a type your code can branch on.

**In short.** PENDING_ADJUSTER is the state a claim takes when its next act is reserved to a licensed adjuster and no attestation exists yet. It names the act, the license it requires and the authority it runs under. It clears only on a fact: the adjuster attests, sends the file back or declines, so your code waits on a fact instead of polling an untyped queue.

Most claims systems have a status called something like "in review." It means a person will look at the file eventually. It does not say who, under what license, or what the file is waiting for.

That ambiguity is expensive. A product can't tell the policyholder anything true, and a statutory clock keeps running while the file sits.

## A state with a meaning

`PENDING_ADJUSTER` is narrower. A claim enters it only when the next act is reserved to a licensed adjuster and no attestation exists yet. The response says exactly what is being waited on:

```json
{
  "claim": "clm_8f3ka92",
  "stage": "evaluate",
  "status": "PENDING_ADJUSTER",
  "reservedAct": {
    "verb": "adjust",
    "license": "TX all-lines adjuster",
    "verified": "at_call_time",
    "authority": "delegated_by_carrier",
    "fee": { "shape": "flat", "fixed": "at_post" }
  }
}
```

Your code can branch on it. Show the policyholder that a licensed adjuster is reviewing the file. Keep the decide clock visible. Stop retrying.

## How it clears

The state clears on a fact, never on a timer:

1. **The adjuster attests.** Their decision, approve or deny with reasons, and their signed attestation arrive on `decision.issued`.
2. **The adjuster sends it back.** The file returns to preparation with the gaps noted, and the claim leaves the pending state until it is ready again.
3. **The adjuster declines.** A declination is a refusal to sign, carried by a reasoned memo. The file is rerouted to another licensed adjuster, and no process can commit past the refusal.

## Why a type beats a queue

A queue tells you where a file is. A type tells you what it is waiting for, and what will move it. The license in `reservedAct` is checked at call time against the state registry, per state and line of authority, so the promise in the response is one the system can keep.

Producer-reserved acts work the same way. A bind answers `PENDING_PRODUCER` until a licensed producer binds, and `policy.bound` closes it.

## Questions

### What does PENDING_ADJUSTER mean?

The claim's next act is reserved to a licensed adjuster and no attestation exists yet. The response names the act, the license it requires and the authority it runs under.

### How does a claim leave PENDING_ADJUSTER?

Only on a fact: the adjuster attests to a decision, sends the file back with the gaps noted, or declines, which reroutes the file to another licensed adjuster.

### Is a send-back the same as a denial?

No. A denial is a signed decision on coverage. A send-back returns the file to preparation with defects noted, so it can be completed and reviewed again.

### How is the adjuster's license checked?

At call time, against the state registry, for the state and line of authority the act requires.