Fire Insurance paid mortgage company

[Sissy Treat]

I have a friend who owns a few houses he rents out. 2 Weeks ago the renters young 17 year old girl left the iron on the bed..the iron caught the bedroom on fire. Firemen put the fire out and gave a value on the loss.
The fire insurance came out and assesed the damage and sent my friend a check for $23,000 BUT it also has the mortgage companys name on the check along side my friends name.
He cannot cash the check because it has to go to the mortgage company . The mortgage company will only issue my friend $150 at a time to make repairs.
He is needing to get some workers in there to make repairs and get a renter back in to make the mortgage payments which by the way were always paid on time. What can you do with only $150 at a time? HE told them that check was useless and he will have to make repairs out of his own pocket.

IS this common for the fire insurance to send the check with the mortgage company name also on the check and they have all control over the money? IF this is not common I think my friend needs to change insurance company after all these years.