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The Townes of Cedar Ridge Condominium Association (“Cedar Ridge”) was damaged as a result of a March 2019 hailstorm. Cedar Ridge informed its insurer, Travelers Indemnity Company of America (“Travelers”), which inspected the complex and concluded that some gutters, downspouts, air conditioning units, and one shingle on one roof had sustained hail damage. As a result, Travelers issued payment for $17,140.88 for the damages it found were covered and denied the remainder of the claim.
Continue Reading Insurer’s Declaratory Judgment Action After Denial Ruled Untimely

In keeping with the recent decision in B&D Investment Group v. Mid-Century Insurance Company,1 the Northern District of Illinois, in Khalell v. AmGuard Insurance Company,2 again concluded that appraisal was appropriate where the insurer had determined that some portion of the dwelling was damaged by hail.
Continue Reading The Northern District of Illinois Compels Appraisal AGAIN!

Neither the Illinois Supreme Court nor the Illinois Appellate Court has weighed in on whether “causation” is appropriate for appraisal. Numerous Illinois federal district trial courts have, concluding that disputes as to (a) causation (whether the damage was caused by a covered peril), (b) the scope of damage (the extent or scope of the physical damage from the covered peril), (c) the scope of repairing or replacing the damage, (d) the cost of repairing or replacing the damage, (e) matching (the cost of repairing/replacing a physically undamaged building component to remedy a mismatch with a repaired/replaced damaged building component), and (f) whether the damage is extensive enough to require employing a general contractor are disputes as to the “amount of loss,” not coverage, and thus appropriate for appraisal.1…
Continue Reading Another Illinois Federal District Court Rules That Causation Can Be Determined In Illinois Appraisals

Whether labor can be depreciated in arriving at an actual cash value property loss settlement has been a hot topic of debate over these past six years, and the subject of many Merlin lawyer blogposts, including the one I wrote last July discussing the Appellate Court of Illinois opinion in Sproull v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Company.1…
Continue Reading The Illinois Supreme Court Concludes That Labor Cannot Be Depreciated In Arriving At An Actual Cash Value Loss Settlement

In 2016, State Farm came out with a new appraisal provision for its homeowner insurance policy.1 This new provision makes the appraisal process extremely burdensome for policyholders. While I have always felt the new provision violates the Standard Fire Policy, a Michigan federal district court recently reached the same conclusion.
Continue Reading State Farm’s Appraisal Provision Violates the Standard Fire Policy

Whether labor can be depreciated in arriving at an actual cash value property loss settlement has been a hot topic of debate over these past five years, and the subject of many Merlin lawyer blogposts. An Illinois appellate court recently weighed in on the issue in Sproull v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company.1…
Continue Reading An Illinois Appellate Court Concludes That Labor Cannot Be Depreciated In Arriving At An Actual Cash Value Loss Settlement

After the death of George Floyd last month, riots followed peaceful protests in cities across the country, including Illinois, and many have been overwhelmed by the scale of property damage, looting, and vandalism. As a result, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker issued disaster proclamations for 14 counties. To ensure that Illinois insurance consumer rights are protected, the Illinois Department of Insurance implemented Bulletin 2020-15.
Continue Reading Illinois Department of Insurance Requests Insurers Implement Protective Measures for Claims Due to Recent Vandalism and Looting

As discussed in my blog post last week, the coronavirus may impact deadlines for property insurance claims, including deadlines in which to receive replacement cost benefits. To ensure that Illinois insurance consumer rights are protected and that Illinois consumers do not suffer unnecessary hardship during this pandemic, the Illinois Department of Insurance implemented Bulletin 2020-09. In that Bulletin, the Department requested that all insurers licensed or authorized to transact insurance business in Illinois consider implementing certain protective measures.
Continue Reading The Illinois Department of Insurance Requests Property and Casualty Insurers Implement Various Safeguards Due to the Coronavirus Impact

Last year in one of my blogposts, I wrote about Windridge of Naperville Condominium Association v. Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company,1 and the issue whether appraisal is appropriate to resolve a dispute over the cost of repairing physically undamaged siding of townhome buildings to remedy a mismatch with repaired damaged siding. There, a federal district court in Illinois denied the Association’s motion to compel appraisal on the “matching” issue, reasoning it was a question of coverage, not loss amount, and thus inappropriate for appraisal. This coverage issue was subsequently resolved in favor of the Association, the district court concluding that Philadelphia must replace or pay to replace the siding on all four of the townhome buildings’ elevations if no siding is available that matches the undamaged siding on the north and east elevations, as claimed by the Association.2…
Continue Reading The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Weighs In On “Matching”

An Illinois Public Insurance Adjuster recently contacted me regarding an insurer’s denial of a smoke damage claim. The facts were as follows. While a condominium unit owner was using the fireplace in the unit (“unit 1”), smoke began to fill up in the condominium unit above (“unit 2”). The condominium association made a claim to its property insurer for the smoke damage to unit 2. Concluding that the fireplace flu in unit 1 was improperly installed, the insurer denied the association’s claim, asserting exclusions for damage caused by or resulting from (1) faulty workmanship (“the faulty workmanship exclusion”) and (2) the discharge or release of pollutants (“the pollution exclusion”).
Continue Reading Where There Is Smoke, There Is… A Denial