United States Fifth Circuit

In a claim against defendant-insurance company for failure to pay plaintiff's homeowner's policy claim timely following Hurricane Katrina, district court award of of $175,467 in damages, penalties, and attorneys' fees is reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded where: 1) a reasonable fact finder could conclude that plaintiff's expert offered the more credible analysis of the damage to the home and the cost of rebuilding it; 2) the language of policy permitted recovery of only the actual cash value of an item until such time as the insured furnishes the insurer a receipt for replacement of that item; 3) the court did not err in determining that plaintiff proved defendant-insurer's bad faith based on its arbitrary and capricious withholding of payments under the policy's Coverage A for the swelling was a conclusion of fact; 4) the intersection of both the Louisiana Civil Code and Title 22 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes did not bar recovery of damages for mental anguish by policyholders who claimed their insurers have acted toward them in bad faith; 5) state law clearly prohibited the continuing-breach rationale employed by the district court in this case; and 6) it was possible, however, that some damage was not discovered until after August 15, 2006.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/22/2008
• Published 12/23/2008

Judges

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel