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 … Continue Reading
The Eight Circuit Court of Appeals in Noonan v. American Family Mutual Insurance,1 recently upheld that the Minnesota Amendatory Homeowners Endorsement (“Endorsement”) excludes “matching.” The Endorsement provides that an insurer does “not pay to repair or replace undamaged property due to mismatch between damaged material and new material used to repair or replace damaged material.”… Continue Reading
There must be a lot of matching disputes out there because I have received two questions this week alone on matching issues in various jurisdictions. So, for today’s blog I will discuss matching in Ohio—The Buckeye State.… Continue Reading
This week’s blog topic is a question I received from a reader who came across one of my prior blog posts on matching: Important Decision in Favor of Policyholders on Matching Issue.… Continue Reading
Last year in one of my blogposts, I wrote about Windridge of Naperville Condominium Association v. Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company, 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 … Continue Reading
We received a request for a blog related to decisions on roof matching under homeowner’s policies of insurance. In 1997 the Insurance Commissioner’s Office of Montana took a position on roof matching under the contractual duty to make a policyholder “whole” again, and the query was whether Montana had case law or statutory provisions at … Continue Reading
In 1990, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners adopted a new section to its model regulations relating to unfair property claims.1 Section 9 of the model regulation provides:2 A. When the policy provides for the adjustment and settlement of first-party losses based on replacement cost, the following shall apply: *** (2) When a loss requires … Continue Reading
Policyholders purchase property insurance and pay lofty premiums with the intention of their insured property being restored to where it was prior to a loss. But what happens when the loss affects only a portion of the siding or has destroyed only a handful of discontinued roofing tiles? Is the policyholder forced to accept mismatching … Continue Reading
The appraisal clause in a typical residential and commercial property insurance policy provides for an appraisal if the parties disagree as to “the amount of loss.”1 That phrase has been the subject of extensive legal debate between insureds and insurers in terms of its meaning and scope. While most courts have concluded that ascertaining the … Continue Reading
In my last blog post, I discussed Windridge of Naperville Condominium Association v. Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company,1 and the issue whether appraisal is appropriate to resolve a dispute over the need for a general contractor to perform repairs following a covered loss. Windridge of Naperville also involved whether appraisal is appropriate to resolve a dispute … Continue Reading
Rutgers Law Professor Jay Feinman was commissioned by United Policyholders to write a report on the issue of "matching" following property losses to residential structures. He summarized the issue of matching as following:… Continue Reading
A public adjuster recently asked me about a hotel that was under a specific brand and the contract to maintain the brand required the rooms and furniture to match. Following a loss, the insurance company has refused to pay for the portions of the physically undamaged property and the policyholder paid millions to match the … Continue Reading
In the area of property damage law, one of the hot topics these days is matching. If only a portion of a structure is damaged and the material to be used to repair or replace the damaged portion is no longer available, is the insurance company required to replace the entire area so the siding, … Continue Reading
One area of dispute in property insurance claims involving hail or storm damage is how much needs to be replaced. When part of a building’s roof or siding is damaged as a result of a storm, sometimes the replacement material is no longer available. The issue becomes does the entire roof or siding have to … Continue Reading
Florida Statute § 626.9744(1) requires a Florida homeowner’s property insurance to cover repair or replacement of undamaged property when it is damaged during repair. Specifically, subsection (1) of this statute (2011) states: When a loss requires repair or replacement of an item or part, any physical damage incurred in making such repair or replacement which … Continue Reading
The Minnesota Attorney General had enough of insurance companies failing to live up to the promise of putting policyholders back into the same position they were before the loss. Currently, the situation is the same throughout the nation, where insurers say they will do one thing, but have their attorneys argue out of the bargain … Continue Reading
I received a comment to my post, Cosmetic Damage is "Physical Damage" and Recoverable Under a Property Insurance Policy, asking the following: What about matching of the roof tiles or shingles? The new ones are always going to be different. But, the insurance companies are not paying for the entire roof. In this case the … Continue Reading
Insurance claim denials and disputes involving “matching” are frequent. I received this recent comment on the topic of matching: Hey Chip Back on 5/17/09, Cat adjuster posted a comment regarding matching of aged paneling and tile floors. You advised that maybe the adjusters were relying on Texas Case Law regarding causation. In my experience, the … Continue Reading
If you have questions on insurance coverage, I have answers. A public Comment and a few private questions to yesterday’s post, Matching of Property Damage is Statutory in Florida, were enough cause to provide some general case examples and one significant suggestion.… Continue Reading
Suppose some shingles on a roof are damaged, but not all. Does a policyholder get a hideous looking checkerboard roof which affects the value of the structure and possibly the neighborhood? If part of a carpet is damaged, is it patched leaving a new part slightly different looking in the middle of a room? Many … Continue Reading
