For the past few years, I’ve been involved in several labor depreciation cases around the Southeast, including one right here in Tennessee against Auto-Owners. The threshold legal question in that case, Lammert et al. v. Auto-Owners Mutual Ins. Co., was whether an insurance company can depreciate the cost of labor when determining its actual
bad faith
Post-Loss Assignment of Claims are Valid in Tennessee
By Brandon McWherter on
Posted in Claim Tips, Coverage Issues
Not so fast Mr. Adjuster, my assignment of claim is valid even if the insurance policy says its not.
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Another Court Allows Punitive Damages Claim to Proceed
By Brandon McWherter on
Posted in Bad Faith
In June of this year, Judge Tom Anderson joined the ranks of other judges in Tennessee that have held that punitive damages can be awarded against an insurance company for breach of an insurance contract, if the breach was intentional, malicious, reckless, or malicious. The case was Carroll v. Nationwide Property & Casualty Company,…
Farm Bureau’s “Take It or Leave It Offer” Determined to be Unfair Claims Practice
By Brandon McWherter on
Posted in Bad Faith, Consumer Protection Act
In Brooks v. Tenn. Farmers Mut. Ins. Co., 2014 Tenn. App. LEXIS 776 (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 26, 2014), an insured’s home was damaged by a tornado and an independent adjuster hired by the insurance company offered the homeowner $56,788 to resolve the claim. The homeowner disagreed with the estimate and refused to settle…