How do property insurance coverage adjusters usually deal with this situation?
“A tornado severely damages a structure, and then three days later, a second tornado further damages the structure. Nobody fully measured the first damage before the second one happened.”
Most property insurance coverage adjusters would add up the damages figuring out that two insurance policies might apply to pay for all of the damages after which take two deductibles. Easy peasy. Right?
Not if you’re in Louisiana. A case determined final week1 adopted two different Louisiana circumstances and introduced this rule:
As it pertains to Coverage A, the courtroom disagrees. ‘Louisiana law does not allow for double recovery of the same element of damages,’ which is within the nature of a punitive or exemplary award. Albert v. Farm Bureau Ins. Co., 940 So.second 620, 622 (La. 2006). The coverage covers just one dwelling and the boundaries underneath Coverage A characterize the substitute price for that dwelling, as agreed to by plaintiffs once they bought the coverage. The courtroom permits that restoration underneath separate coverage limits can be justified within the occasion that plaintiffs had begun repairs following one prevalence after which suffered further harm within the second. Here, nonetheless, plaintiffs have admitted that they made no repairs to the dwelling. Accordingly, holding UPC liable for 2 coverage limits protecting the identical dwelling would quantity to exemplary damages. Plaintiffs have already got such a treatment obtainable underneath Louisiana Revised Statutes §§ 22:1892 and 22:1973.
The final sentence must be a warning to insurance coverage firm adjusters dealing with claims in Louisiana as a result of “easy peasy” would have been a a lot quicker and simpler technique to resolve the dispute. It is usually troublesome to know the precise quantity of damages attributable to every loss, and taking two deductibles whereas permitting for 2 coverage limits with two deductibles is a sensible approach to resolve the dilemma.
The final sentence of the ruling is a reference to Louisiana’s unhealthy religion legislation permitting for punitive damages the place the complete quantity of harm just isn’t paid inside 30 days of a proof of loss. Property insurance coverage carriers in Louisiana are sometimes shocked that once they examine a loss, that’s the “proof of loss” and the thirty-day time is ticking.
I wish to give a shoutout to Insurance Law360, which introduced this case to my consideration. This publication is doing a superb job of discovering present and related first-party property insurance coverage circumstances which give priceless classes frequently.
I additionally wish to warn readers engaged in Louisiana that The End Is Near For Louisiana Hurricane Ida Victims. The statute of limitations is rapidly approaching, and circumstances not resolved must be despatched to competent authorized counsel straight away. Merlin Law Group has full-time attorneys primarily based in Louisiana prepared to assist.
Thought For The Day
A each day routine constructed on good habits and disciplines separates essentially the most profitable amongst us from everybody else.
—Darren Hardy
1 First Assembly of God Church v. Church Mutual Ins. Co., No. 2:21-CV-378 (W.D. La. June 23, 2023).