Tornado Damage And Appraisal Award

Dallas County insurance attorneys see tornado claims. Here is a case resulting from a tornado claim. It is from the Dallas Court of Appeals. It is styled, Halton v. American Risk Insurance Company, et al.
This is an appeal from an adverse summary judgment granted in favor or American. The parties dispute whether American properly and fully paid an appraisal award to repair damage to Halton’s home that was damaged by a tornado. This Court reversed the summary judgment.
The Halton’s home was damaged and American paid damages totaling $42,083.87. After the lawsuit was filed an umpire was hired to appraise the loss. The lose was determined to be $180,273.92 in replacement cost and $163,613.92 in actual cash value. The Halton’s deductible was $1,631.89. American issued additional checks totaling $102,548.04.
The Haltons amended their petition and asserted, among other things, that American breached the insurance policy by failing to pay adequate compensation under the contract,
and violated the Texas Insurance Code.
The parties disputed whether American was required to pay the replacement cost value or the actual cash value as shown in the appraisal. If we assume without deciding that American was required to pay the lesser amount of the actual cash value awarded by the umpire minus the Haltons’ deductible, we conclude ARIC failed to meet its summary judgment burden to show it fully paid the award.
Using this calculation, American was obligated to pay the Haltons $161,982.03 ($163,613.92 for the actual cash value minus $1,631.89 for the deductible). However, based on the summary judgment record, American paid a total of $144,631.91 to the Holton’s ($102,548.04 + $1,000 + $39,683.87 + $200 + $600 + $600). The difference between the amount owed and the amount paid based on the summary judgment evidence is $17,350.12.
American argued they had paid the $17,350.12 to Stanley Restoration for cleaning and remediation work. However, American did not properly prove-up this payment and could not be considered by the Court.