In October 2016, Guillermo Acosta and Laura Pirela (the “Insureds”) suffered a water loss at their home and filed an insurance claim.1 The insurer inspected the property and then invoked the ‘elect to repair provision’ under the policy that stated as follows:
If a peril causing a loss and related damage are covered (other than sinkhole loss) and repairs are necessary to protect covered property from further damage, [the Insureds] must notify [the Insurer] before authorizing or commencing repairs so [the Insurer], at [its] option, may select Rapid Response Team, LLC™ to make the covered Reasonable Repairs.
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If [the Insureds] and [the Insurer] fail to agree on the amount of loss, which includes the scope of repairs, either may demand an appraisal as to the amount of loss and the scope of repairs.
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The scope of repairs shall establish the work to be performed and completed by Rapid Response Team, LLC™. Such repair is in lieu of issuing any loss payment to [the Insureds] that otherwise would be due under the policy.