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Insurance Litigation Appraisal Awards

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

Texas Supreme Court Answers Certified Question in Favor of Insurer on Preclusion of Attorney’s Fees Under Texas Insurance Code...

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

Cozen O'Connor

Southern District of Texas Holds that Appraisal Award is Inconclusive of Whether a Loss is Covered

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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

Zelle  LLP

Morakabian and Rosales Signal a Consensus View on Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees After Appraisal

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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

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Insurer’s Appraisal Award and Statutory Interest Payments Entitle It to Summary Judgment

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

Cozen O'Connor

Texas Court of Appeals Adds Confusion to Post-Appraisal Litigation Under the TPPCA

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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

Zelle  LLP

Texas Insurers' Paths to Post-Appraisal Summary Judgment

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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

Cozen O'Connor

Federal Court Holds that the Voluntary Payment of an Appraisal Award Plus Penalty Interest Defeats TPPCA Claims Under Texas Law

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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

Cozen O'Connor

Fifth Circuit Weighs in on Aftermath of Texas Supreme Court’s Decisions Affecting Insurers’ Pre-Appraisal Award Payments and...

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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

Cozen O'Connor

The Supreme Court of Texas Finds that a Reasonable Payment of an Insurance Claim Does Not Satisfy the Texas Prompt Payment of...

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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

Zelle  LLP

5th Circ. Insurance Case May Encourage Post-Appraisal Suits

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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

Cozen O'Connor

Texas Court Holds That Unpaid Appraisal Award Does Not Conclusively Establish Causation or Damages in Hurricane Ike Insurance...

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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

Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP

Appraiser Declarations Inadmissible When Offered to Challenge the Merits of an Appraisal Award

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

Saul Ewing LLP

Texas Appellate Court Confirms that Insurer’s Payment of Appraisal Award Precludes Common Law and Statutory Bad Faith Claims

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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

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Connecticut Supreme Court Reaffirms Court’s Limited Power To Review Appraisal Awards

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

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Appraisal Award Unenforceable Where Suit Limitation Period Expired Prior To Filing Suit: New York County Dismisses Storm Sandy...

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

Zelle  LLP

The Graber Opinion is Confirmed as an Outlier in Matters Involving Texas Appraisals

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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

Cozen O'Connor

Don’t Mess with the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act: One Court’s Appraisal Result

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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

Zelle  LLP

Graber v. State Farm is a Texas Prompt Payment Outlier

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For more than a decade, courts applying Texas law — including the Fifth Circuit, two federal district courts and several Texas courts of appeal — have uniformly held that an insurer’s full and timely payment of an appraisal...more

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