Start here: insurance policies are contracts, and courts have already answered most of the fights that come up on a property claim — whether an insurer can refuse appraisal, how long you really have to sue, when depreciation has to come back, what a denial letter must say. Below is every decision we rely on, in the court's own words, with plain-English notes underneath. Free, no login, nothing to sign up for.
76decisions on the shelf
76published as complete opinions
10claim-fight topics covered
1905oldest rule still good law
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All topics AppraisalAssignment of benefitsBad faithCausationExclusions & coverageFraud & misrepresentationPost-loss dutiesSuit deadlinesValuation & depreciationWaiver & estoppel
Showing all 76 decisions.
Georgia (46)
2024 · Appraisal · Post-loss duties · full text Cudd v. State Farm Suing First Doesn't Breach the Policy: Appraisal Is Enforceable, but It Isn't a Toll Gate to the Courthouse Read the decision → 2021 · Appraisal · full text Omni Health Solutions v. Zurich The Panel Sets the Amount of Loss, and the Suit Clock Stops While the Appraisal Runs Read the decision → 2019 · Bad faith · full text Villa Sonoma v. CIBA A Bad-Faith Demand Sent While the Adjustment Is Still Running Is Not a Demand, but Claims About How the Insurance Was Sold Survive Read the decision → 2018 · Bad faith · full text Thompson v. Homesite A Complaint to the Insurance Commissioner Is Not a Bad-Faith Demand, and § 33-4-6 Is the Only Door to Attorney Fees Read the decision → 2017 · Appraisal · full text Clary v. Allstate The Appraisers Priced Every Repair Needed to Put the House Back, Mold Remediation Included Read the decision → 2016 · Post-loss duties · full text R&G Investments v. American Family A Building Under Renovation Is Not 'Vacant,' but the Cooperation and Examination-Under-Oath Clauses Keep Their Teeth Read the decision → 2014 · Exclusions & coverage · full text American Strategic v. Helm When an Exclusion Can Honestly Be Read Two Ways, Georgia Reads It Against the Insurer That Wrote It Read the decision → 2014 · Bad faith · full text Henderson v. Georgia Farm Bureau A Mold Sublimit Does Not Swallow the Water Claim Underneath It Read the decision → 2014 · Appraisal · full text Lam v. Allstate The Four-Shingle Case Carriers Stretch: a 4–3 Pleading-Stage Decision, Not a Carrier Veto Over Appraisal Read the decision → 2013 · Exclusions & coverage · full text Georgia Farm Bureau v. Croft A Code-Upgrade Claim Lives or Dies on Three Exhibits: the Ordinance, the Pre-Loss Market Value, and a Repair Cost That Has Actually Been Fixed Read the decision → 2013 · Valuation & depreciation · full text Georgia Farm Bureau v. Franks Once You Have an Insurable Interest, the Policy Decides What You Collect: Joint Ownership Does Not Cut a Total-Loss Payment in Half Read the decision → 2012 · Appraisal · full text Bell v. Liberty Mutual The Covered Item Is the Building, So the Appraisers Could Price the House as One Item Read the decision → 2012 · Valuation & depreciation · full text Royal Capital v. Maryland Casualty Repaired Isn't Made Whole: Georgia's Supreme Court Says Buildings Can Recover Diminished Value on Top of Repairs Read the decision → 2012 · Suit deadlines · full text White v. State Farm Georgia's Suit-Deadline Trap: the Standard Fire Policy's 2-Year Floor Protects Only the Fire Half of Your Policy Read the decision → 2008 · Suit deadlines · full text Allstate v. Sutton The One-Year Suit Clause Survives the Negotiation: Once the Carrier Reserves Its Rights in Writing, Talking Does Not Stop Your Clock Read the decision → 2008 · Exclusions & coverage · full text Nationwide v. Kim Exclusions Are the Carrier's Burden: Strictly Construed, and an Exclusion the Policy Never Wrote Doesn't Exist Read the decision → 2006 · Appraisal · full text McGowan v. Progressive Georgia's Appraisal Rule: the Panel Decides Value, the Courts Decide Liability, and an Appraisal Payment Moots Nothing Else Read the decision → 2006 · Exclusions & coverage · full text Varsalona v. Auto-Owners Buy the House, Buy the Policy, Never Move In: Georgia Enforces the "Residence Premises" Requirement and the Slab-Collapse Claim Dies Before Anyone Looks at the Slab Read the decision → 2004 · Bad faith · full text Selective Way v. Litigation Technology Rainwater That Pools in a Pit and Runs Through a Pipe Is No Longer "Surface Water," and Denying on That Ground Can Be Bad Faith Read the decision → 2003 · Exclusions & coverage · full text AFLAC v. Chubb & Son Where Georgia's Definition of 'Direct Physical Loss or Damage' Comes From, and Why Storm Damage Meets It Read the decision → 2003 · Post-loss duties · full text Evans v. Ohio Casualty Ending an Examination Under Oath Can Be Survivable in Georgia; Never Sending the Sworn Proof of Loss Was Not Read the decision → 2002 · Waiver & estoppel · full text Auto-Owners v. Ogden The Company Can Waive Its Own Suit Deadline by Admitting Liability and Promising to Pay; an Adjuster Cannot Revive It After the Clock Runs Out Read the decision → 2001 · Post-loss duties · full text Gilbert v. Southern Trust Georgia Reads Policy Conditions to Avoid Forfeitures, and "Small Circumstances" Are Enough to Show the Insurer Waived One Read the decision → 2001 · Valuation & depreciation · full text State Farm v. Mabry Value, Not Condition: Georgia Makes the Insurer Assess Diminished Value Without Being Asked Read the decision → 2001 · Causation · full text York v. Williams Seafood A Flood Exclusion Carrying Anti-Concurrent Language Did Not Reach the Policy's Separate Sinkhole-Collapse Coverage Read the decision → 1999 · Assignment of benefits · full text Williams v. Mayflower A Liability-Assignment Standing Case, Not a Bar on Assigning Post-Loss Property Benefits in Georgia Read the decision → 1998 · Post-loss duties · full text Cotton States v. Walker A Late Proof of Loss Forfeits Nothing in Georgia Unless the Policy Says So in Express Words, and an Adjuster Who Says 'Take Your Time' Can Put Waiver in Front of a Jury Read the decision → 1998 · Valuation & depreciation · full text Marchman v. Grange Georgia Enforces "Actual Cash Value Until the Repair Is Complete" Literally, and the Valued Policy Statute Will Not Rescue an Unbuilt House Read the decision → 1996 · Valuation & depreciation · full text Nationwide v. Wiley A Homeowner Can Testify to What Her Own House Was Worth, and a Flat Refusal to Pay Waives the Proof-of-Loss Fight Read the decision → 1995 · Bad faith · full text Primerica v. Humfleet The 60-Day Demand Is a Timing Trap: It Only Counts When Payment Is Actually Due Read the decision → 1994 · Exclusions & coverage · full text Hill v. Nationwide An Empty House Is Still a Covered House: Georgia Will Not Read an Occupancy Condition Into a Policy That Does Not Contain One Read the decision → 1992 · Post-loss duties · full text Diamonds & Denims v. First of Georgia Partial Cooperation, or an Explanation for Why You Cannot Produce Something, Makes Post-Loss Compliance a Jury Question Read the decision → 1990 · Assignment of benefits · full text Santiago v. Safeway Once the Loss Has Happened, the Claim Is Yours to Assign: Consent Clauses Don't Reach Post-Loss Benefits Read the decision → 1989 · Valuation & depreciation · full text Georgia Farm Bureau v. Brown 'Wholly Destroyed' Does Not Mean Burned to Ash: a Jury May Find a Total Fire Loss From Repair-Versus-Replace Cost and the Carrier's Own Photographs Read the decision → 1986 · Exclusions & coverage · full text Nationwide v. Tomlin In Georgia, an Undefined "Collapse" Happens When Structural Integrity Is Seriously Impaired, Long Before the House Falls Down Read the decision → 1985 · Valuation & depreciation · full text Allstate v. Baugh When the House Is Paid Off, the Entire Rent Is Additional Living Expense, and You Recover Only the Months You Actually Incurred Read the decision → 1985 · Valuation & depreciation · full text Braner v. Southern Trust What You Paid and Roughly When You Bought It: Georgia's Supreme Court Relaxes the Proof Rule for Contents Burned in a Fire Read the decision → 1985 · Valuation & depreciation · full text BSF v. Cason After a Denial You Get the Actual Cash Value Now and a Fresh Window to Replace, but the Denial Does Not Excuse You From Replacing Read the decision → 1985 · Post-loss duties · full text Halcome v. Cincinnati Insurance Refusing to Answer Material Questions at an Examination Under Oath Breaks the Policy; the Court Decided Only the Income Questions Read the decision → 1978 · Exclusions & coverage · full text Georgia Farm Bureau v. Washington A Neighborhood Bakery Is Not an 'Industrial Operation': Smoke Language Gets a Layman's Reading, Not an Underwriter's Read the decision → 1972 · Bad faith · full text Hanover v. Hallford The $210 Roof Offer That Cost the Carrier a Bad-Faith Penalty: No Magic Words Needed to Demand Payment Read the decision → 1965 · Valuation & depreciation · full text American Casualty v. Parks-Chambers Actual Cash Value Means Fair Market Value at the Time of Loss: a 1965 Pleading Ruling That What You Paid Is Not the Ceiling Read the decision → 1961 · Valuation & depreciation · full text General Accident v. Azar Cost Is a Floor Under Actual Cash Value, and a Flat Refusal to Pay Waives the Proof of Loss You Already Filed Read the decision → 1961 · Valuation & depreciation · full text National Fire v. Banister Your Policy Limit Is Not Your Loss: Georgia Makes You State the Amount, and Measures It by Fair Market Value at the Time of Loss Read the decision → 1957 · Appraisal · Suit deadlines · full text Peeples v. Western Fire Agreeing to an Appraisal Stops the Policy's Suit-Deadline Clock While the Appraisal Is Pending Read the decision → 1905 · Assignment of benefits · full text Ga. Co-operative Fire Ass'n v. Borchardt After the Loss, the Claim Is Yours: Georgia's 1905 Rule That Post-Loss Assignments Don't Need the Carrier's Consent Read the decision →
Tennessee (15)
2019 · Valuation & depreciation · full text Lammert v. Auto-Owners Tennessee Insurers May Not Depreciate Labor When Paying Actual Cash Value Read the decision → 2018 · Fraud & misrepresentation · full text Dutton v. Tennessee Farmers A False Answer on the Application Voided the Policy From Day One, and Seven Years of Renewals Did Not Cure It Read the decision → 2013 · Appraisal · full text Artist Building Partners v. Auto-Owners Tennessee Enforced the Appraisal Award Against the Insurer That Demanded It, and Refused to Let It Cherry-Pick the Award Read the decision → 2009 · Post-loss duties · full text Spears v. Tennessee Farmers Answering Questions Under Oath Is a Condition Precedent; Recorded Statements, Documents, and a Later Deposition Do Not Cure a Refusal Read the decision → 2009 · Exclusions & coverage · full text U.S. Bank v. Tennessee Farmers Starting a Foreclosure Is Not an 'Increase in Hazard': Tennessee Refuses to Read a Notice Requirement Into a Standard Mortgage Clause Read the decision → 2001 · Appraisal · full text Merrimack v. Batts Tennessee Appraisal Fixes the Amount of the Loss; Coverage and Causation Stay With the Courts Read the decision → 1999 · Post-loss duties · full text Kentucky National v. Gardner Letting Your Own Case Against the Contractor Die Killed the Insurance Claim: Tennessee's Impairment-of-Subrogation Rule Read the decision → 1998 · Post-loss duties · full text Alcazar v. Hayes Tennessee Ends Automatic Forfeiture for Late Notice: Delay Now Only Presumes Prejudice, and the Insured Gets to Rebut It Read the decision → 1998 · Bad faith · full text Myint v. Allstate Prejudgment Interest Is Not Barred Because the Carrier Reasonably Disputed the Claim (and the Consumer-Protection Half Has Since Been Undone by Statute) Read the decision → 1986 · Suit deadlines · full text Das v. State Farm The Tennessee Suit Clock Starts at the First Denial, and Reopening the File for Another Engineer Does Not Buy a Fresh Year Read the decision → 1986 · Bad faith · full text Palmer v. Nationwide The Four Things a Tennessee Policyholder Must Prove to Win the § 56-7-105 Bad-Faith Penalty Read the decision → 1984 · Post-loss duties · full text McConkey v. Continental Tennessee's False-Swearing Rule: a Knowingly False Statement About a Material Matter Forfeits the Entire Claim Read the decision → 1973 · Valuation & depreciation · full text Braddock v. Memphis Fire The Case Carriers Cite for the Right to Depreciate: Tennessee Allows It Where the Policy Says So, and Lammert Later Took Labor Off the Table Read the decision → 1964 · Post-loss duties · full text Phoenix Insurance v. Brown Tennessee's Twelve-Month Suit Clause Runs From When the Right to Sue Accrues, Not From the Date of the Fire Read the decision → 1943 · Valuation & depreciation · full text Third National Bank v. American Equitable Tennessee's Definition of Actual Cash Value, and the Repair-Cost Passage the Supreme Court Later Called Dictum Read the decision →
South Carolina (15)
2002 · Bad faith · full text Mixson v. American Loyalty 'It Was an Unsettled Question' Is Not a Free Pass: an Insurer Can Still Face Bad Faith Where No Case Was on Point Read the decision → 2002 · Exclusions & coverage · full text Ocean Winds v. Auto-Owner South Carolina Collapse Coverage Does Not Wait for the Building to Fall Down, but It Takes More Than Substantial Impairment Read the decision → 2001 · Post-loss duties · full text S.C. Farm Bureau v. Kelly An Insurer Can Sue to Claw Back Fire Money It Already Paid, and the Innocent-Insured Defense Dies If You Do Not Get a Ruling on It Below Read the decision → 1996 · Bad faith · full text Cock-N-Bull Steak House v. Generali An Insurer That Cannot Say Why It Denied Part of a Claim Faces a Directed Verdict and Punitive Damages in South Carolina Read the decision → 1994 · Post-loss duties · full text Puckett v. State Farm South Carolina Refuses to Make the Examination Under Oath a Condition Precedent: No Forfeiture Without Proof of Prejudice Read the decision → 1988 · Causation · full text Carter v. American Mutual Fire The Insurer Carries the Burden on Arson, but South Carolina Lets It Be Carried Entirely by Circumstantial Evidence: Incendiary Origin + Motive + Opportunity Read the decision → 1986 · Fraud & misrepresentation · full text Johnson v. South State Fraud on the Contents Claim Voids the Contents, Not the House: South Carolina Adopts the Minority Rule on Severability Read the decision → 1985 · Fraud & misrepresentation · full text McCracken v. GEICO An Innocent Co-Insured Recovers Her Share After the Other Spouse's Arson, Unless a Statute or Specific Policy Language Says Otherwise Read the decision → 1983 · Bad faith · full text Carter v. American Mutual Fire South Carolina's Brand-New Bad-Faith Action Reaches an Ordinary Homeowner's Fire Claim Read the decision → 1983 · Bad faith · full text Nichols v. State Farm South Carolina Recognizes First-Party Bad Faith: Unreasonable Claim Handling Is a Tort, and Actual Damages Are Not Limited by the Policy Read the decision → 1963 · Post-loss duties · full text Graham v. Aetna Concealment Means Deliberate Withholding, and a South Carolina Insurer That Never Asked the Question Cannot Void the Policy Over the Answer Read the decision → 1958 · Post-loss duties · full text American Mutual Fire v. Green A Denial on Other Grounds, Plus an Adjuster Who Said "Don't You Move Nothing," Excused a Late Proof of Loss Read the decision → 1956 · Appraisal · Post-loss duties · full text Harwell v. Home Mutual Refusing a Demanded Appraisal Cost a South Carolina Homeowner a Verdict She Had Already Won Read the decision → 1935 · Appraisal · full text L. D. Jennings Co. v. North River An Appraisal Award Survives Minor Irregularities Unless They Substantially Affected the Result Read the decision → 1933 · Bad faith · full text Tyger River Pine Co. v. Maryland Casualty When the Insurer Controls the Claim It Must Sacrifice Its Own Interests: South Carolina's Bad-Faith Root, Preserved by Name in Statute Read the decision →
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Questions about the library
Is this the complete text of each decision?
Yes for 76 of the 76 decisions on the shelf — the court's own words, start to finish, not a summary standing in for the opinion. Each page states exactly where its text came from and links the official source, and our commentary sits beneath the opinion rather than in place of it.
Why publish cases that help insurance companies?
Because you will meet them anyway. Carriers quote a handful of decisions at policyholders, sometimes for more than the case actually holds. We publish those decisions in full, with what they decided and what they did not, so nobody gets talked out of a valid claim by a citation they have never read.
Can I use this for my own claim or case?
Yes — read it, print it, cite it, send it to your adjuster. It is free and there is nothing to sign up for. It is general information rather than legal advice, and the outcome of any dispute depends on your own policy language and facts.
Which states does the library cover?
Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina — the states where the firm is licensed. The oldest decision on the shelf dates to 1905, because some of the rules that protect policyholders today were settled a century ago and have never been overruled.
Knowing the case is step one. Proving the loss is the job. These decisions tell you what the law allows. Turning that into a paid claim takes documentation, valuation, and a negotiation the carrier takes seriously — that part is ours, and it costs nothing unless we recover.
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