>>>>So, I recommend to lean towards stored procedures for complex logic and not try to abuse functions (although, of course, they do have their place).
>>>
>>>so are you saying the code I wrote would work in an SP?
>>
>>I haven't studied your code in details, but generally, yes.
>
>:)
>
>I hope that someone can look at my code, because I'm stuck
>
>

CREATE PROCEDURE GetClaimStatus 
>	-- Add the parameters for the stored procedure here
>	@Clm_PK UNIQUEIDENTIFIER,
>	@Status INT OUTPUT
>AS
>BEGIN
>	-- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
>	-- interfering with SELECT statements.
>	SET NOCOUNT ON;
>
>    -- Insert statements for procedure here
>	DECLARE @DayLimit INT
>	DECLARE @Cli_PK UNIQUEIDENTIFIER
>	
>	SET @Status = 1 /* Pending */
>	SET @Cli_PK = (SELECT clm_clifk FROM Claims WHERE clm_pk = @Cli_PK)
>	
>	SET @DayLimit = (SELECT com_OverDueDays 
>					FROM Companies 
>						INNER JOIN Clients ON com_pk = cli_comfk
>							WHERE cli_comfk = @Cli_PK)
>
>/* I don't know how to implement the logic:						
>1. If any Claim Items are Overdue, then Claim is Overdue
>2. Else If all Claim Items are Settled, then Claim is Settled
>3. Otherwise Status is Pending */
>			
>    RETURN @Status 
>END
>GO

Post your create table statements and insert statements.

But basically, it's something like

select @Status = case when exists (select 1 from ClaimItems where ClaimID = @Clm_PK 
and ClaimDate > dateadd(day, -1*@DayLimit, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP) 
                                        then 'Overdue' 
                          when exists (select 1 from ClaimItems where ClaimID = @Clm_PK and Status <> 'Settled') 
                                     then 'Pending' 
                          ELSE 'Settled' END