Attacking and Defending Insurance Appraisal Awards: Litigating Impartiality, Undue Influence, and Other Key Issues
A live 90-minute CLE video webinar with interactive Q&A
This CLE webinar will discuss why the appraisal remedy in insurance policies may not be the straightforward solution it appears to be on paper, the grounds for vacating appraisal awards, and why it may simply be a prelude to litigation over appraiser impartiality.
Outline
- Overview of appraisal remedy
- Demanding an appraisal: how and when (and when not)
- Choosing an appraiser and documenting the agreement to appraise
- Selecting an umpire
- Defining the scope of the appraisal
- Reporting the appraisal
- Enforcing or challenging the appraisal
- Timing
- Grounds for vacating award
- Without authority
- Fraud, mistake, accident
- Not rendered in compliance with the policy
- Proving undue influence, bias, prejudice, interference with process
- Correcting errors
- Binding effect of appraisal
- Remedies if appraisal is vacated
Benefits
The panel will review these and other important issues:
- What kind of disclosures can or should be required from appraisers or umpires to fully disclose possible conflicts or impartiality?
- How are mixed questions of causation, loss amount, and the extent of the loss decided?
- Does payment of the appraisal amount extinguish extra-contractual claims?
- Does coverage have to be resolved before an appraisal?
Faculty
Vincent Circelli
Partner
Dugas & Circelli
Mr. Circelli represents plaintiffs and defendants in all aspects of litigation and trial practice. He has obtained... | Read More
Mr. Circelli represents plaintiffs and defendants in all aspects of litigation and trial practice. He has obtained millions in verdicts in federal and state courts and arbitration panels. Mr. Circelli started his career at the international law firm Haynes and Boone and has argued before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, numerous state appellate courts, and is licensed to practice before the United States Supreme Court. He is licensed in Texas, New Mexico and New York. Mr. Circelli was named the Outstanding Young Lawyer by the Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association, is a Life Member of the Texas Bar Foundation, and has been recognized as Thompson Reuters’ Texas Rising Star published by Texas Monthly Magazine (2013-present) and as a Top Attorney in Civil Litigation by Fort Worth Magazine (2010-present).
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Illon R. Kantro
Partner
Berk, Merchant & Sims
Mr. Kantro is a partner at Berk, Merchant & Sims. He received his Bachelor of Science from The American University,... | Read More
Mr. Kantro is a partner at Berk, Merchant & Sims. He received his Bachelor of Science from The American University, in Washington, D.C., and his Juris Doctor from The University of Miami School of Law, in Coral Gables, FL. Mr. Kantro has spent the last fifteen years assisting foreign and domestic insurers with matters of first and third party insurance coverage.
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Gina Clausen Lozier
Partner
Clausen Choquette Law
Ms. Clausen Lozier is a founding partner of Clausen Choquette PLLC and focuses her practice on first and third-party... | Read More
Ms. Clausen Lozier is a founding partner of Clausen Choquette PLLC and focuses her practice on first and third-party claims and coverage analysis. She is one of only three lawyers in Florida recognized in the prestigious legal publication Chambers for her work on policyholders’ behalf. Ms. Lozier dedicates her practice to representing commercial policyholders.
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Justin Whedbee, AIC, ACP, CCP
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
MAS Solutions
Mr. Whedbee is an insurance professional with more than twenty-five years of experience in all lines of claims. He is... | Read More
Mr. Whedbee is an insurance professional with more than twenty-five years of experience in all lines of claims. He is skilled in negotiations and creating effective processes for improving claims resolution, as well as an accomplished public speaker, specifically geared to teaching.
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