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A federal court ruling earlier this year discussed a fairly common scenario of an insurer claiming that no roof damage occurred and even if it did, the policyholder failed to introduce evidence of actual cash value because it only had a replacement cost estimate.1 The point of this post is to show that the safest way to present a property insurance claim in Florida is with a combined replacement cost estimate and an actual cash value estimate. However, fully understanding those concepts and Florida statutes on the subject is important.
Continue Reading Do You Have a Florida Property Insurance Dispute Over Valuation? Understand the Differences Between Replacement Cost Value, Actual Cash Value and How the Broad Evidence Rule Works

Larry Bache and I are currently handling a devastating fire loss to a powder coating and plating facility located in Watertown, South Dakota. Our clients purchased a replacement cost value policy of insurance – the purpose being to allow them to rebuild after a loss. Unlike actual cash value coverage, which has the intent of placing an insured back in the position it enjoyed prior to a loss, but never allowing it to benefit because a loss occurred, replacement cost coverage is not a pure indemnity agreement. It reimburses an insured for the full cost of repairs, even if that results in placing the insured in a better position than it was before the loss.1…
Continue Reading Determining Actual Cash Value in South Dakota

Whether your insurance company forced you to sift through soot and ash, trying to recollect what has just been stolen, or trying to identify items damaged by water, going through damaged contents and creating an inventory is an emotionally draining experience that typically comes with little to no guidance by the insurance company. After spending countless hours substantiating lost personal property contents, the insurance company responds with random, and sometimes substantial reductions in the value of the personal property for depreciation, often with little to no explanation as to how it arrived at that conclusion.
Continue Reading Explaining Depreciation of Personal Property Contents in Colorado

One of the most common questions we hear from our clients has to do with the differences between “actual cash value” and “replacement cost value.” Replacement cost value on its face seems relatively straight forward, but what is “Actual Cash Value” determined under New Jersey law?
Continue Reading The Proper Standard for Evaluating “Actual Cash Value” Under New Jersey Law

While the term actual cash value is typically found in a property insurance policy, it often is not defined in the policy. Courts around the country use four primary methods to give meaning to the term actual cash value when it is not defined in an insurance policy. Those methods are:

(1) replacement cost without deduction for depreciation;

(2) market value;

(3) replacement cost with deduction for depreciation; and

(4) the broad evidence rule.
Continue Reading Determining Actual Cash Value in Indiana

The Broad Evidence Rule has been used in Connecticut to calculate Actual Cash Value (ACV) on property damage cases since 1959.1 That all changed in 2011 when the Connecticut House of Representatives passed Substitute House Bill No. 6238. This bill nullified the Broad Evidence Rule and instead calculated ACV for homeowners and commercial risk insurance properties by taking the Replacement Cost Value and deducting depreciation to obtain ACV.
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Continue Reading Connecticut Values Actual Cash Value as Replacement Cost Value Minus Depreciation

(Note: This Guest Blog is by Michelle Claverol, an attorney with Merlin Law Group in the Coral Gables, Florida, office. This is the fourth in a series she is writing on valued policy laws).

“Actual Cash Value = Replacement Cost – Depreciation” is one of the most common insurance valuation mantras. However, when dealing with Actual Cash Value (ACV) provisions, insurance professionals should keep in mind that that, in Florida, this formula is more fluid and lenient than it sounds.…

Continue Reading Valuation Issues in Florida, Part 4: Actual Cash Value and The Broad Evidence Rule