With the proliferation of appraisal demands, the ins and outs of appraisal in Tennessee will begin to take shape through the judiciary. In Artist Building Partners v. Auto-Owners Mut. Ins. Co., the Court of Appeals recently made clear that it will not disturb the binding nature of an appraisal award.

For a little history lesson, one of the key cases controlling insurance appraisals in Tennessee is the Merrimack Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Batts case, in which the Court of Appeals held that a policy giving an appraisal panel the authority to determine the "amount of the loss" does not vest the appraisers with the authority to decide questions of coverage and liability. The issue of what constitutes a true coverage question has been a gray and murky area for quite some time.

In the Artist Building Partners case, one of the issues to be decided by the appraisal panel was the "period of restoration," which the appraisal panel ultimately concluded should end approximately 2 and a half years after the loss. In reviewing that decision, the Court of Appeals noted with approval that it was appropriate for the appraisal panel to take into consideration the fact that the insurer did not pay the full amount owed prior to the appraisal award in calculating the period of restoration. The Court also seemed to give significant weight to the fact that the insurer placed restrictions on the insured’s ability to alter the damaged building for a period of time due to the possibility of a subrogation claim. In the end, the court upheld the policy’s language that the appraisal panel’s findings would be binding, and seemingly granted them broad discretion in reaching a decision without digging too deep into the bases for the panel’s decision.

This case is an important one because it shows that Tennessee courts are loathe to overturn an appraisal panel’s findings. The parties bargained and had a contract to allow appraisal to make a binding decision, and courts will generally shy away from invalidating an award just because one of the parties is unhappy. In my opinion, the Court got it right here. There were no true "coverage" issues and the parties had essentially agreed to let the appraisal end the dispute.

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Photo of Brandon McWherter Brandon McWherter

J. Brandon McWherter is a Nashville-based lawyer and member of McWherter Scott & Bobbitt PLC, which has offices across the State of Tennessee and elsewhere across the Southeast.  Licensed in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi, he has dedicated his practice to assisting insurance…

J. Brandon McWherter is a Nashville-based lawyer and member of McWherter Scott & Bobbitt PLC, which has offices across the State of Tennessee and elsewhere across the Southeast.  Licensed in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi, he has dedicated his practice to assisting insurance policyholders with their claims against insurance companies, including claims for bad faith.

For well over a decade, McWherter’s practice has been focused almost exclusively on the prosecution of first party property insurance claims for policyholders.  His interest in this area of the law first started around 2003 when a tornado struck Jackson, Tennessee, where he lived and worked at the time.  Since then, McWherter has represented hundreds or thousands of policyholders whose claims have been underpaid or denied.  He advises and advocates for owners of commercial properties, industrial facilities, residential properties, churches, business owners, and other insurance policyholders.

Since he started counting in 2013, McWherter has assisted his clients in obtaining well in excess of One Hundred Million Dollars ($100,000,000) in settlements, awards, and jury verdicts against insurance companies.

In 2018, McWherter was inducted as a fellow in the American College of Coverage Counsel, which is an invitation-only organization designed to facilitate and encourage the association of lawyers who are distinguished for their skill, experience, and high standards of professional and ethical conduct in the practice or teaching of insurance coverage and extra-contractual law and who are dedicated to excellence in this area of practice.

McWherter has been featured as a “Super Lawyer” or “Rising Star” by SuperLawyers every year since 2010.  Since 2013, he has been selected each year  for inclusion in U.S News and World Reports’ The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Insurance Law.  He also enjoys an AV Preeminent ranking by Martindale-Hubbell for legal ability and ethical standards.

Mr. McWherter is a lifelong Tennesseean and received his law degree from the University of Memphis. While in law school, he was a member of the University of Memphis Law Review, and served on the Editorial Board as Notes Editor.

In advocating for clients, McWherter has trudged through fire scenes and crawled storm-damaged roofs, quizzed consulting construction experts and experts for hours on end, and deposed and cross-examined hundreds of adjusters, experts, consultants, and other professionals within the insurance industry.  He reads insurance policies nearly every day and has a working knowledge of the customs and practices of insurance companies in investigation, estimating, and payment of claims.  McWherter counsels clients on presentation of claims, assists in compiling the evidence necessary to validate the amounts owed, and then enforces his clients’ rights, if necessary, via the judicial system and other alternative dispute resolution options, such as appraisal.

Several of McWherter’s cases have developed the law governing insurance disputes in the State of Tennessee, most recently including the Tennessee Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Lammert et al. v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co., which held that insurers may not depreciate the costs of labor in determining their actual cash value payment obligations when the policy does not clearly allow it.

When not working, you will usually find Mr. McWherter with his wife, Angela, and his two daughters. He is an avid golfer and a lifelong bass fisherman, neither of which he does as often as he would like.

Practice Areas

  • Representation of policyholders in claims and litigation against insurance companies
  • Bad faith insurance litigation
  • Insurance-based consumer class actions

Professional Associations

  • Tennessee Bar Association
  • Arkansas Bar Association
  • Mississippi Bar Association
  • Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association
  • American Trial Lawyers Association (past member)
  • American Bar Association (past member)

Education

  • B.S.B.A. – Union University (1998)
  • J.D. – University of Memphis (2001)

Bar Admissions

  • Tennessee
  • Mississippi
  • Arkansas
  • Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
  • United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas