Appraisal clauses exist so that amount-of-loss disputes can be resolved informally, outside of court. They provide a common-sense mechanism for getting to the right number efficiently—without lawyers, judges, and juries. Unfortunately, some insurance companies routinely resist participating in the appraisal
In Hester v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174539 (M.D. Tenn. Sept. 8, 2025), the Middle District of Tennessee declined to take a disputed roof‑replacement case away from a jury, holding that factual questions
In Nashville Communications, Inc. v. Auto-Owners Insurance Company, the Middle District of Tennessee addressed a dispute many commercial policyholders face after wind or hail losses: when an insurer concedes limited damage and an appraisal later determines the repairs require
Last week, we looked at Magistrate Judge York’s October 2021 opinion in Smith v. State Farm, in which State Farm was ordered to proceed with an appraisal of the loss as properly invoked by Ms. Smith. As a refresher, Ms. Smith’s
Over the past few posts, I’ve explored a couple of recent opinions from federal courts in the Eastern and Middle Districts of Tennessee that explored the appropriate use of appraisal in resolving disputes about the “scope” of a loss. For
Earlier this week I posted about the recent Ingram v. State Farm case in which a federal court in the Eastern District of Tennessee obliterated State Farm’s defense that appraisal was inappropriate for disputes about “scope.” The Ingram case was just
In 2021, courts across Tennessee issued a handful of decisions that continue to define the nuances of the Tennessee Court of Appeals’ opinion in Merrimack v. Batts that is now twenty years old. Suffice it to say the landscape is quickly changing
The Occupational Safety and Health Act was signed into law in 1970 by President Nixon, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was simultaneously created to implement, administer, and enforce its requirements. OSHA’s mission is to “assure safe and
The storm has passed and a new wave of obstacles and hurdles are sure to follow in its wake. Out-of-state adjusters have already flooded the area, and not all of them know and understand policyholders’ rights in the State of
