“Appraisal” is a procedure typically mandated by state law or outlined in an insurance policy. Appraisal is a dispute resolution procedure intended to provide insurers and policyholders with a method to award the measurement...more
When an insurer pays the full amount of an appraisal award plus statutory interest, the insured is precluded from recovering attorney’s fees under Chapter 542A of the Texas Insurance Code, according to a recent decision from...more
The Southern District of Texas recently held that an appraisal award did not establish liability for a covered loss under the policy. In Hoff v. Meridian Sec. Ins. Co., 2023 WL 5192013 (S.D. Tex. Aug. 11, 2023), Meridian...more
Chapter 542 of the Texas Insurance Code, also known as the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (“TPPCA”), generally allows an insured to recover interest and attorneys’ fees, in addition to the amount of the insurance claim,...more
In a case of first impression, the Dallas Court of Appeals recently held that, under a statute passed by the Texas Legislature in 2017, if an insurer pays an appraisal award issued in connection with a weather-related...more
Statutory fair value appraisal proceedings in New York come in two flavors. First, there’s the buy-out appraisal under Business Corporation Law § 1118 triggered by a minority shareholder’s petition for judicial dissolution....more
Ever since the Texas Supreme Court changed the landscape of Texas law regarding appraisal in Barbara Technologies Corp. v. State Farm Lloyds, 589 S.W.3d 806 (Tex. 2019) and Ortiz v. State Farm Lloyds, 589 S.W.3d 127 (Tex....more
Accepting coverage for part of a claim may subject an insurer to a policy’s appraisal process when the extent of covered damage is in dispute, according to a recent ruling issued by the Eastern District of Tennessee....more
Until recently, property insurers who paid a binding appraisal award in Texas were almost certain to end a matter by doing so, with respect to both breach-of-contract claims and all extracontractual claims. But changes...more
In 2019, the Supreme Court of Texas issued a pair of decisions that allowed policyholders to prosecute claims under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (“TPPCA”) even after the insurers paid appraisal awards. The decisions...more
Just a few short years ago, there was a bright line rule under Texas law concerning appraisal awards. If an insurer timely paid an appraisal award, that payment extinguished all of the insurer’s contractual and...more
In Hinojos v. State Farm Lloyds, the Supreme Court of Texas addressed liability under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (the “TPPCA”) when an insurer timely pays only part of a claim....more
On Oct. 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is set to hear oral arguments in Pearson v. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company. The case centers on statutory construction of Chapters 542 and 542A of the...more
In Yakuel v. Gluck, Justice Joel M. Cohen of the New York County Commercial Division denied Petitioners’ application to confirm an appraisal award and denied Respondent Andrew Gluck’s (“Gluck”) cross-petition to vacate the...more
CCLD Holds that D&O Policy’s Duty to Defend “Securities Claims” Extends to Appraisal Proceedings under 8 Del. C. § 262, that Pre-Judgment Interest on an Appraisal Award May be a Covered “Loss” and that a Breach of...more
On June 28, 2019, a divided Supreme Court of Texas issued a pair of important opinions addressing how an insurer’s timely payment of an appraisal award impacts the viability of a policyholder’s contractual and...more
A recent Texas state appellate court decision confirms the importance of clarity in the appraisal process as to the issues being considered by an appraisal panel. In Texas Windstorm Insurance Association v. Dickinson...more
While Hurricane Ike made landfall in Texas almost ten years ago, the resulting litigation is alive and well as evidenced by the recent decision in Texas Windstorm Insurance Association v. Dickinson Independent School...more
In Khorsand v. Liberty Mutual Fire Ins. Co. (No. B280273, filed 2/27/18), a California appeals court affirmed an appraisal award favorable to a homeowners insurer, ruling that it was improper to admit as evidence in...more
On December 14, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a Chancery Court decision that had found the “fair value” of Dell shares in the 2013 MBO by Michael Dell and Silver Lake to be about 28% more than the final negotiated deal...more
Ortiz v. State Farm Lloyds, No. 04-17-00252-CV, 2017 WL 5162315 (Tex. Ct. App. Nov. 8, 2017). Oscar Ortiz submitted a claim to State Farm for damage to his property resulting from wind and a hailstorm. After inspecting the...more
The Connecticut Supreme Court recently handed down an important decision reiterating the high bar to overturning arbitration awards while, at the same time, clarifying a portion of the applicable statute providing for...more
Suit limitation provisions in insurance policies shorten the statutory period of time that a plaintiff may bring a suit against an insurer for certain causes of action. A New York court recently held that an appraisal award...more
With the continued onslaught of hail and other weather related litigation in Texas, insurance carriers often elect to resolve claims through the appraisal process outlined in the policy. Insurance carriers historically...more
Virtually all property insurance policies contain an appraisal clause, which outlines the appraisal procedure in broad terms. Those broad terms sometimes do not provide much guidance about the process, or about the effect...more