What is an Appraisal?
In a recent Ohio Ninth District Court of Appeals decision, homeowners who experienced significant property damage from both a fallen tree and inadequate contractor work were left without the protection of Ohio’s Consumer...more
Montes v. Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Fla. 2d DCA, No. 2D2023-1200, February 12, 2025 - The Second District Court of Appeal revived an insurance coverage suit a homeowner brought against his insurance...more
Howard Roy Housen and Valerie Housen v. Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Fla. 4th DCA, No. 4D2023-2720, January 22, 2025 - The Fourth District Court of Appeals found that the homeowners demonstrated excusable...more
Holding Insurance Companies Accountable, LLC v. Leonard Caruso v. American Integrity Insurance Company of Florida, Fla. 5th DCA, No. 5D2023-2810, January 3, 2025 - The homeowner reported roof damage to his homeowners...more
It is the stuff of nightmares. Dr Yevhen Hunyak, described by the Judge in the case as "a cautious person", and Iya Patarkatsishivili were careful to visit their prospective home more than half a dozen times between Spring...more
Coming on the heels of what are projected to be the costliest wildfires in California history, a new decision from the California Second District Court of Appeals could make it more difficult to obtain insurance coverage for...more
The Second Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal recently affirmed a lower court ruling that wildfire debris on an insured’s property did not qualify as “direct physical loss” within the meaning of a homeowners...more
In the recent decision Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Co. v. Qureshi, the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal held that homeowners cannot recover replacement cost benefits unless they have incurred expenses for...more
This Article is Part 1 in a series of articles discussing common considerations that homeowners should look for before, during, and after a residential construction project. Part 1 focuses on arguably the most important...more
Southern District Finds That Exclusion In HO3 Form Precludes Coverage Even Though Form Inadvertently Omitted From Copy Of Policy Sent To Insured- Scottsdale Insurance Company issued a homeowner’s policy to 232 Dune Road...more
Burlington Insurance Company issued primary policies to a contractor in 2013-14 and 2014-15, and Century was the excess insurer for 2013-14. The contractor was sued for property damage resulting from its construction work...more
The Washington Supreme Court recently published an opinion that appears to invalidate any homebuyer warranty that requires the buyer to file suit in less than six years. In Tadych v. Noble Ridge Construction, Inc., the owners...more
Contract Interpretation McCruter v. Travelers Home & Marine Ins. Co., 11th Dist. Lake No. 2019-L-167, 2021-Ohio-472- In this appeal, the Eleventh Appellate District affirmed in part and reversed in part the lower court’s...more
One of the great things about being a real estate agent is that when a transaction closes, the agent gets paid his or her commission regardless of how much time and effort expended by the agent in connection with the...more
The opinion of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in Young-Allen v. Bank of America provides both hope for lenders frustrated by borrowers who delay inevitable foreclosure sales by requiring the lender to comply with every...more
This Construction Law Alert highlights some of the significant Tennessee state and federal decisions affecting the construction industry from the past year. Holdback Payments Are Not Retainage - Tennessee’s Prompt Pay...more
A recent Utah Appellate Court upheld the dismissal of a homeowners' claims against a geotechnical engineer because the homeowners did not have a contract with the geotechnical engineer and therefore their claims were barred...more
In its broadest sense, the "economic loss rule" prohibits recovery in tort for purely economic loss incurred under contract law. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary online defines tort as "a wrongful act other than breach of...more
Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal (DCA) ruled on Sept. 5, 2018, that an insurer's anti-assignment provision was not prohibited. The Court disagreed with the Fifth DCA's decision in December 2017 prohibiting any such...more
The Holding - In Teufel v. Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co., 244 Ariz. 383, 419 P.3d 546 (2018), the Arizona Supreme Court recently held that a Contractual Liability Exclusion in homeowner policies did not apply to a claim for...more
The District Court for the District of Connecticut denied Allstate's motion to dismiss its insureds’ breach of contract and statutory bad faith claims, finding that the cost to fix damage to the concrete foundation of the...more
McMillin Albany LLC v. Superior Court, No. S229762, 2018 Cal. LEXIS 211 (Jan. 18, 2018) - Several homeowners (“Plaintiffs”) brought suit against developer/general contractor McMillin Albany LLC (“McMillin”) for alleged...more
On August 9th, in Sirrah Enterprises, L.L.C. v. Wunderlich, the Arizona Supreme Court settled the question about recovery of attorneys’ fees after prevailing on implied warranty claims against a residential contractor. The...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Foreclosure/Standing: although bank established it had possession of note prior to commencement of action, bank did not demonstrate when blank endorsement was placed on note, nor did it prove it...more
Appellate Court Advance Release Opinions - AC36506 - Sidorova v. East Lyme Board of Education - Due to budget cuts, the Board of Education laid off the plaintiff who was a tenured French teacher. She sued for...more