Hawaii has hurricanes, judgment and bad faith | Property Insurance Protection Law Blog

Not only do Hawaiian insureds have to contend with volcanoes and lava, they have hurricane disputes with their property insurance companies, just like everyone in the Gulf Coast states. To resolve these disputes and provide a non-contractual remedy, Hawaii allows appraisal and has a post-appraisal bad faith cause of action. A brief summary of that law can be found in a Westlaw synopsis to a Hawaiian case:

The insured filed a breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit against the property insurer. The parties were ordered by the district court … to submit to arbitration under the policy̵

7;s arbitration provisions, and the arbitration award was affirmed. The insured moved for partial summary judgment finding that all actual cash values, repair costs and appraiser-determined conformance figures were covered by the policy, and the insurer filed a motion to strike and dismiss. The district court, Kay, Chief Judge, held that: (1) after affirming the judgment, doctrines of issue and claim preclusion barred reexamination of damage and repair figures calculated by arbitrators, but did not preclude questions of coverage and mitigation, which were not submitted for resolution; ; (2) the insurer’s payment of valuation figures for “first period” claims resolved all issues with respect to that period; (3) the assessment did not preclude bad faith claims regarding unreasonable delay in payment; and (4) part of the declaratory judgment motion sought a purely advisory opinion.

This is a quick blog post. The entire opinion is attached for your review.¹

2023 Transpac race sets all-time slowest record. Rum rations are almost gone. I want to make sure I’m in good graces with the crew when they get upset about their predicament. So I must return to the race and make this post short and sweet.

The photo above is of Keahi Ho, who lives in Maui. Keahi is a firefighter and a regular crew member on the Merlin.

Today’s thought