The Villas at Winding Ridge v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company1 opinion is a good reminder to appraisers that they need to timely raise any issues related to the appraisal, or risk having those issues waived.
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Colorado Law Regarding Who Can Be An Appraiser is Still A Guess For Policyholders and the Insurance Industry – Colorado Is Looking For Guidance
The person that can qualify as an appraiser for a policyholder in Colorado is still a guess with policyholders not exactly knowing what to do about the selection of their appraiser. One Colorado insurance company law firm has their clients select very biased appraisers against their own customers and then challenges almost all policyholder appraisers as biased. This firm with their clients’ blessings, then tries to have the customer collect nothing arguing that the customer breached the policy by selecting a “biased” appraiser while having a “polecat” selected in the wings as their own appraiser.
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Invoking Appraisal – Be Careful What You Ask For
Last week, the Texas Second Court of Appeals issued Lambert v. State Farm Lloyds,1 which follows the Texas Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Barbara Technologies Corp. v. State Farm Lloyds.2
In a recent blog post, Payment of an Appraisal Award: Is There More, I reviewed Barbara Tech and its companion case, Ortiz v. State Farm Lloyds.3 These two landmark cases hold that an insurer’s full and timely payment of an appraisal award, bars an insured’s causes of action for breach of contract and any common law and statutory bad faith claims, to the extent the bad faith claims seek only actual damages that are considered lost policy benefits.
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An Insurer’s Potential Fraud Claim Against Insured Was “No Reason to Stop or Stay Appraisal,” Court Rules
On October 2, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled that a dispute between an insurance company and its policyholder should proceed to appraisal despite insurance company’s allegations that it had discovered what it called evidence of fraud.
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Insurance Appraisal and Umpire Association – State of Appraisal
I spent October 1st and 2nd in San Antonio at the Insurance Appraisal and Umpire Association (IAUA) meeting. The IAUA is made up of appraisers and umpires from both the policy holder and insurer sides.
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Steve Badger and Chip Merlin Clash Again Over Appraisals, Umpires, and Appraisers! Come to the Show in San Antonio on October 1 and 2!
Steve Badger has certainly made his mark Texas property insurance law over the last decade. Bob Norton has similarly made a name for himself over the same period of time by forming the Insurance Appraisal and Umpire Association (IAUA) and getting some of the top legal talent and practitioners in the insurance industry teaching at IAUA programs.
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Payment of An Appraisal Award: Is There More?
The answer to the above question came, in part, on June 28, 2019, with the issuance of twin Texas Supreme Court opinions: Barbara Technologies Corporation v. State Farm Lloyds,1 and Ortiz v. State Farm Lloyds.2 The specific issue in these two decisions was what effect did an insurer’s full and timely
The Policyholder’s Public Adjuster Cannot Be the Policyholder’s Appraiser
The Florida Third District Court of Appeals recently held that the policyholder’s public adjuster cannot be the policyholder’s appraiser.1 This decision will have a major impact on appraisals because many public adjusters act as their own appraisers. It should be assumed that the insurance company’s adjusters cannot act as appraisers as well. The decision should be reviewed by all public adjusters, appraisers and umpires that handle appraisals.
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Thoughts On Badger vs Merlin and Other Topics Of Appraisal At The IAUA
Appraisal was the topic of conversation between Steve Badger and me at the Denver IAUA conference. Colorado appraisals have been a matter of much litigation and controversy in Colorado. For some reason, appraisal law has been in great flux and controversy in Colorado versus the vast majority of states where appraisals seem to go along just fine, and claims go away. The recent Colorado Supreme Court case was blogged about in Appraisal and the Impartiality of Appraisers.
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Appraisal and the Impartiality of Appraisers
Recently, the Colorado Supreme Court issued its opinion in Owners Ins. Co. v. Dakota Station II Condominium Association,1 on appraiser impartiality. Specifically, the court discussed the meaning and interpretation of impartiality under the insurance policy and whether a contingent-cap fee agreement between the appraiser and Dakota Station rendered the appraiser not impartial as a matter of law.
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