Hazy terminology burns insurer on home’s ‘actual cash value’

Federal Courts

By Jay S. Judge

Jay S. Judge, a name partner of Judge, James, Hoban & Fisher LLC in Park Ridge, is a defense attorney who specializes in trials, appeals and insurance coverage. Judge graduated with honors from The John Marshall Law School and served as editor-in-chief of the school’s law review.

Posted March 13, 2018 1:06 PM

Today’s case is a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision based upon Indiana law and highlights a glaring deficiency in a homeowner’s policy that covered a total loss caused by fire by paying the “actual cash value” of the loss — but without defining that term.The omission subjected the “actual cash value” term to at least four possible definitions of actual cash value, including the Indiana Supreme Court’s “broad evidence rule.”In Thorne v. Member Select …

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