Hawaii Has Hurricanes, Appraisal, and Bad Faith

Hawaiian insureds not only have to contend with volcanoes and lava, they have hurricane disputes with their property insurers, just like everybody in the Gulf Coast states. To resolve those disputes and provide an extra-contractual remedy, Hawaii allows appraisal and has a cause of action for bad faith after the appraisal. A short summary of that law is found in a Westlaw synopsis to a Hawaiian case:

Insured filed breach of contract and bad faith suit against property insurer. Parties were ordered by District Court … to submit to appraisal under policy’s arbitration provisions, and appraisal award was confirmed. Insured sought partial summary judgment determining that all actual cash value, repair cost and cost of compliance figures determined by appraisers were covered under policy, and insurer filed motion to strike and to dismiss. The District Court, Kay, Chief Judge, held that: (1) after confirmation of award, doctrines of issue and claim preclusion barred relitigation of damage and repair figures calculated by arbitrators, but did not bar issues of coverage and mitigation, which were not submitted for resolution; (2) insurer’s payment of appraisal figures for ‘first period’ damages resolved all issues with respect to that period; (3) appraisal did not preclude bad faith claims regarding unreasonable delay in payment; and (4) portion of claim for declaratory judgment sought purely advisory opinion.

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

The 2023 Transpac race is setting an all-time record for slow. The rations for rum are almost gone. I want to make certain I am in good graces with the crew when they become upset about their plight. So, I have to return to the race and make this post short and sweet. 

The picture above is of Keahi Ho, who lives in Maui. Keahi is a fireman and a regular crew member on Merlin. 

Thought For The Day