The string of natural disasters that struck California in 2017 and 2018 resulted in new legislation expanding the rights of California policyholders. The California legislature has drafted and introduced new legislation that would continue to expand policyholders’ rights.… Continue Reading
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently agreed to hear argument on the matter of Kurach v. Truck Insurance Exchange.1 Merlin Law Group blogged about this class action lawsuit back in May of 2017 and the link can be found here.… Continue Reading
The recent blog post, My House Has Suffered Water Damage, Am I Covered? suggested to hire a licensed public adjuster, or an attorney if the claim was denied, to help you with a water loss claim. This led me to question, “how anybody would find a quality public adjuster or attorney?” The common answer in today’s … Continue Reading
The Colorado Division of Insurance will hold a public stakeholder meeting at the Colorado Division of Insurance in Denver on May 21, 2019, regarding its proposal to eliminate one of its long-standing bulletins requiring insurance companies to pay contractor overhead and profit rather than deduct the amount until incurred.1 We discussed this in Colorado Overhead … Continue Reading
In an opinion issued yesterday, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that labor cannot be depreciated when considering actual cash value.1 Merlin Law Group participated in this victory for policyholders by writing an amicus curiae brief on behalf of United Policyholders.… Continue Reading
Are California homeowners entitled to collect actual cash value (“ACV”) or replacement cost values (“RCV”) for property claims? It depends on what type of policy you have and whether you suffered a total or partial loss of your property. What’s more, in a few weeks, the California Assembly may vote to change existing law. To … Continue Reading
California has statutory and case law that defines replacement cost and actual cash value, and these laws are read into every insurance policy notwithstanding what the policy language says. This blog has several posts on the subject,1 and this post aims to give you one cohesive post to consult for all your questions on calculating … Continue Reading
Can you imagine Allstate Insurance Company running an advertisement explaining that it tries to deduct labor costs as depreciable items when you make a homeowners claim? Allstate runs television ads trying to warn against “cheap” insurance but fails to disclose that it instructs its claims adjusters to cheapen its insurance product when it comes to … Continue Reading
Insurers often try to limit damages once they are found liable for breach of the insurance contract by claiming that the insurance policy limits the insured’s recovery to the actual cash value because the insured did not comply with the policy’s condition on recovering replacement cost.1… Continue Reading
Whether labor can be depreciated in arriving at an actual cash value property loss settlement has been a hot topic of debate over these past five years. A federal district court in Ohio recently weighed in on the issue in ruling on motions to dismiss two putative class action lawsuits, one against State Farm Fire … Continue Reading
Many Virgin Islands property owners have submitted claims to their property insurance carriers relating to claims from Hurricanes Irma and Maria. One issue that may arise during the adjustment of the claim is how the insurance carrier will calculate the “actual cash value” damages to the property.… Continue Reading
Actual cash value polices should rarely be sold on a typical home. Insurance agents who sell these policies knowing that a mortgage exists are negligent because various federal laws and regulations generally require that negotiable mortgages are to be protected by replacement cost insurance: Property insurance for properties securing loans delivered to Fannie Mae must … Continue Reading
One of the most common questions we hear from our clients has to do with the differences between “actual cash value” and “replacement cost value.” Replacement cost value on its face seems relatively straight forward, but what is “Actual Cash Value” determined under New Jersey law?… Continue Reading
While the term actual cash value is typically found in a property insurance policy, it often is not defined in the policy. Courts around the country use four primary methods to give meaning to the term actual cash value when it is not defined in an insurance policy. Those methods are: (1) replacement cost without … Continue Reading
So far, I have addressed thirty states in this series on calculating actual cash value. This blog is to provide an update on the discussion in my earlier post, Calculating Actual Cash Value, Part 24: Alabama.… Continue Reading
This week in my series on calculating actual cash value, we will look at the Mountain State, West Virginia, whose motto is Montani semper liberi (Mountaineers are always free).… Continue Reading
In the New York class action suit, Mazzocki v. State Farm, 1 A.D.3d 9 (N.Y. 3rd Dept. 2003), the Appellate Court for the Third Department finally clarified the question regarding overhead and profit in actual cash value and replacement cost value claims.… Continue Reading
Sometimes when researching one issue, a case will pop up that isn’t what we were looking for, but nonetheless is worthy of note. While I was trying to help a public adjuster with some case law research the other day, I came across this gem out of Pennsylvania. Back in 1991 the Superior Court of … Continue Reading
While many carriers continue their attempt to exclude overhead and profit from property damage claim payments made on an actual cash value basis, the majority approach across the United States has been to include general contractor overhead and profit in actual cash value payments for losses where repairs would be reasonably likely to require a … Continue Reading
Florida’s Third District of Appeal recently confirmed that insurance carriers are initially obligated to pay the true amount of the actual cash value (“ACV”), not just the insurance company’s estimate of the ACV.1 This obligation exists regardless of whether policyholders intend to use the money to make repairs to their home. The court also confirmed … Continue Reading
This week, Oregon made national news as one of the best locations to view the Great American Eclipse. I realized I had not yet covered Oregon in my series on calculating actual cash value, leading to today’s blog.… Continue Reading
The California Department of Insurance recently issued a press release announcing that the California Supreme Court affirmed the homeowner reimbursement protections recently decided in California Fair Plan Association v. Garnes.1 Back in June, my colleague Kevin Pollack wrote about the recent decision and whether actual cash value means fair market value or replacement cost minus … Continue Reading
The Mississippi Department of Insurance just issued a bulletin regarding the depreciation of labor from Actual Cash Value. This is similar to Arkansas which Shane Smith reported in Arkansas Insurance Department Bulletin on Depreciation of Labor.… Continue Reading
On August 1, 2017, The Arkansas Insurance Department issued Bulletin 10-2017 that rescinds Bulletin 13-B-2013.1 Specifically, Bulletin 10-2017 states “any prior communications or notices from the Arkansas Insurance Department. . . that prohibited depreciation of labor, are hereby rescinded.”… Continue Reading
