{"id":888166,"date":"2016-04-13T10:10:52","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T16:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=888166"},"modified":"2016-04-13T10:10:52","modified_gmt":"2016-04-13T16:10:52","slug":"recent-washington-decisions-illustrate-need-to-handle-property-claims-in-timely-manner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/recent-washington-decisions-illustrate-need-to-handle-property-claims-in-timely-manner\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Washington Decisions Illustrate Need to Handle Property Claims in Timely Manner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sean Walton | Property Insurance Law Observer | April 7, 2016<\/p>\n<p>An issue that often arises in the context of property insurance is whether a carrier\u2019s delay in adjusting a claim can create a basis for a viable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/10-bad-faith-insurance-claim-practices\/\" target=\"_blank\">bad faith claim<\/a>.\u00a0 The law in each state is different and the prudent practice is to consult a practitioner specializing in the law of the state in question.\u00a0 This article focuses on Washington law and discusses two recent cases which illustrate the need to adjust <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/property-insurance-claims-insurance-attorney-offers-simple-yet-vital-guidelines\/\" target=\"_blank\">property claims<\/a> promptly. Failure to do so may expose a carrier to viable bad faith allegations sufficient to survive summary judgment and permit the policyholder to get its case before a jury.<\/p>\n<p>First, in <i>Hays v. State Farm Ins. Co.<\/i>, No. 46679\u20131\u2013II, 191 Wn. App. 1053, 2015 WL 9435153 (Dec. 23, 2015), Division Two of the Washington Court of Appeals held that a roughly seven-month delay in responding to the insureds\u2019 communications could amount to bad faith under Washington law. The court held this determination was an issue of fact for the jury.<\/p>\n<p>In <i>Hays<\/i>, a February 2010 accidental fire totally destroyed the insureds\u2019 home. The insurer acknowledged that this was a covered loss, and eventually paid the claim. However, the insurer and insureds had divergent accounts of the facts surrounding claims handling. According to the insureds, they received a check\u2014without further explanation\u2014in May 2010, and between June 2010 and October 2010 made repeated attempts to contact the insurer regarding the status of their claim, but received no response. In late October 2010, the insurer sent a more detailed response\u2014including an updated appraisal of the insureds\u2019 home requested by the insureds\u2014but sent it to the insureds\u2019 old address. It was not until December 2010 that the insureds alleged they actually received the correspondence to their correct address.<span id=\"more-1345\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>On these facts, the court held that issues of fact existed and thus a jury should determine whether the roughly seven-month delay was \u201cunreasonable\u201d and thus in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/4-types-of-evidence-to-bolster-your-bad-faith-case\/\" target=\"_blank\">bad faith<\/a>: \u201c[T]he [insureds] successfully raise an issue of material fact as to whether [the insurer] violated its duty of good faith by unreasonably \u2026 delaying their claim.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Second, in <i>Taladay v. Metro. Grp. Prop. &amp; Cas. Ins. Co.<\/i>, No. C14-1290-JPD, 2016 WL 541398 (W.D. Wash., Feb. 11, 2016), the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington held that a roughly seven-month delay between the conclusion of the insurer\u2019s investigation and its issuance of payment created an issue of fact as to whether the adjustment was \u201cunreasonable\u201d and therefore in bad faith.<\/p>\n<p><i>Taladay <\/i>also involved an accidental fire to the policyholder\u2019s home. The insurer acknowledged that this was a covered loss, and eventually paid the claim. The insured\u2019s primary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/why-insurers-lose-bad-faith-cases\/\" target=\"_blank\">bad faith<\/a> allegation was that the carrier\u2019s failure to timely pay was \u201cunreasonable.\u201d\u00a0 Specifically, there was a roughly seven-month delay between the conclusion of the carrier\u2019s investigation and the issuance of policy proceeds. The court held that reasonable minds could differ as to whether the insurer\u2019s actions were \u201creasonable\u201d and therefore a jury would need to determine whether the delay amounted to bad faith.<\/p>\n<p>Taken together, these cases illustrate the need for carriers (1) to communicate promptly with insureds; (2) to \u201cpaper your file\u201d with proof of such communications, because insureds may be able to create triable issues of fact by alleging they never received pertinent claims communications; and (3) to promptly issue payment once it becomes clear that a claim is covered.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, note that Washington\u2014unlike some other states&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/propertyinsurancelawobserver.com\/2016\/04\/07\/recent-washington-decisions-illustrate-need-to-handle-property-claims-in-timely-manner\/\" target=\"_blank\">To finish reading this article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sean Walton | Property Insurance Law Observer | April 7, 2016 An issue that often arises in the context of property insurance is whether a carrier\u2019s delay in adjusting a claim can create a basis for a viable bad faith claim.\u00a0 The law in each state is different and the prudent practice is to consult&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/recent-washington-decisions-illustrate-need-to-handle-property-claims-in-timely-manner\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Recent Washington Decisions Illustrate Need to Handle Property Claims in Timely Manner<\/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":[140,3],"tags":[140,3,9168],"class_list":["post-888166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-faith","category-insurance-claims","tag-bad-faith","tag-insurance-claims","tag-property-claims","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Recent Washington Decisions Illustrate Need to Handle Property Claims in Timely Manner - Advise &amp; 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