By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//November 12, 2014//
Wisconsin Court of Appeals
Civil
Insurance — homeowners policies — bad faith
Where an insurer paid market value rather than actual cash value after the destruction of a home, summary judgment was improperly granted to the insurer on the insured’s breach of contract and bad faith claims.
“While we will not rehash the facts in their entirety here, we will highlight those we find especially persuasive, including the fact that Allstate’s first appraiser, Van Caster, initially calculated the property’s actual cash value at approximately $113,000, yet Allstate inexplicably rejected that value and insisted that a second appraiser value the property based on market value. Allstate then repeated its insistence on use of market value with subsequent appraisers, even though the policy said nothing about the use of market value to determine coverage and even though the terms of the policy, the nature of the policy, the amount of coverage purchased, and commonly accepted definitions of ‘actual cash value’ — including the definition espoused in Allstate’s own website — clearly demonstrate that Allstate should have paid for the replacement of the property minus depreciation or the policy limits (including the ten-percent upgrade to bring the dwelling up to current standards)—whichever sum was smaller. In sum, given the facts of record, a reasonable trier of fact could certainly conclude that Allstate: (1) breached the terms of its policy; (2) acted in bad faith; and (3) should be, as the complaint states, ‘estopped from disregarding the actual cash value declared in its policy declarations upon which its premium was based.’”
Reversed and Remanded.
Recommended for publication in the official reports.
2013AP2739 Coppins v. Allstate Indemnity Co.
Dist. I, Milwaukee County, Van Grunsven, J., Curley, J.
Attorneys: For Appellant: Konz, Michael P., Appleton; Fuehrer, Erik L., Appleton; For Respondent: O’Brien, Barbara A., Milwaukee; Silver, Patryk, Milwaukee