Last week, we looked at Magistrate Judge York’s October 2021 opinion in Smith v. State Farm, in which State Farm was ordered to proceed with an appraisal of the loss as properly invoked by Ms. Smith. As a refresher, Ms. Smith’s home was damaged by a March 3, 2020 storm, and State Farm agreed
scope of appraisal
Recent Developments – Appraisal in Tennessee, 2021 (Part 3)
Over the past few posts, I’ve explored a couple of recent opinions from federal courts in the Eastern and Middle Districts of Tennessee that explored the appropriate use of appraisal in resolving disputes about the “scope” of a loss. For this next installment, we move to West Tennessee for yet another recent case on the…
Tennessee Court of Appeals Reaffirms Limited Scope of Appraisal
Almost yearly (if not more frequently), insurance companies face the argument that the appraisal process provided by the typical insurance policy should be expanded. As a refresher, back in 2001, the Tennessee Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Batts, 59 S.W.3d 142 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2001), where…
The Proper Scope of Appraisal – Thoughts from the Battlefield
In Parks‘ last post, "What is the Proper Scope of Appraisal in Tennessee?", he pointed out the Merrimack decision in which the Court of Appeals held that appraisal is not appropriate for decisions regarding coverage and liability. In considering my response, I spoke with Chuck Howarth, who is part of The Howarth…