{"id":1694,"date":"2013-06-10T06:10:46","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T12:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=1694"},"modified":"2013-06-04T16:11:33","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T22:11:33","slug":"appraisal-and-bad-faith-in-new-jersey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/appraisal-and-bad-faith-in-new-jersey\/","title":{"rendered":"Appraisal and Bad Faith in New Jersey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Trautmann – June 2, 2013<\/p>\n

Many know that I previously worked for a major national insurer in their staff counsel office. Now, I am fortunate to practice law at the Merlin Law Group. One of the best parts about practicing law in this environment is that I am surrounded by the best minds in policyholder advocacy. Recently, my colleagues Larry Bache\u00a0and Ashley Smith posted about Hunt v. State Farm Florida Insurance Company<\/a>, a Florida case that held a favorable appraisal award satisfies a statutory condition precedent to a bad faith claim. That begged the question, how would New Jersey law treat an appraisal award in a bad faith context?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a relatively recent unpublished opinion, the New Jersey Appellate Division addressed this very issue. In Bello v. Merrimak Mutual Fire Insurance Company,1\u00a0the policyholder suffered a windstorm loss that damaged his roof and retaining wall. There was a dispute over the cause of damage to the retaining wall. The carrier demanded appraisal, but the policyholder instead filed suit on several grounds but did not include a bad faith count. The policyholder sought over $400,000 for repairs to the retaining wall and another $200,000 for landscape repairs. The carrier offered a settlement of approximately $62,000. upon the insurer\u2019s motion, the Court compelled appraisal, resulting in a $100,750 appraisal award for the policyholder, which the carrier paid. \u201cThereafter, on motion, all contract claims against [the adjuster] were dismissed. And, by an order dated October 10, 2010, the trial judge allowed plaintiff to amend his complaint to add a claim alleging defendant’s bad faith in delaying the resolution of his claim.\u201d<\/p>\n

The matter ultimately went to trial with a verdict exceeding $850,000 for the policyholder. That amount included almost $225,000 in attorneys\u2019 fees and costs. The New Jersey Supreme Court denied certification on December 12, 2012,2\u00a0ending this case and cementing the fact that a favorable appraisal award will not bar a subsequent bad faith action in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

1 Bello v. Merrimack Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 2012 WL 2848642 (N.J. App. July 12, 2012).<\/p>\n

2 Bello v. Merrimack Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 212 N.J. 464 (2012).<\/p>\n

via Appraisal and Bad Faith in New Jersey : Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Trautmann – June 2, 2013 Many know that I previously worked for a major national insurer in their staff counsel office. Now, I am fortunate to practice law at the Merlin Law Group. One of the best parts about practicing law in this environment is that I am surrounded by the best minds in… Continue reading Appraisal and Bad Faith in New Jersey<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,3],"tags":[218,140,139],"class_list":["post-1694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","category-insurance-claims","tag-appraisal","tag-bad-faith","tag-new-jersey","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nAppraisal and Bad Faith in New Jersey - Advise & Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/appraisal-and-bad-faith-in-new-jersey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Appraisal and Bad Faith in New Jersey - Advise & Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robert Trautmann – June 2, 2013 Many know that I previously worked for a major national insurer in their staff counsel office. 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