TENTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FINDS THAT INSURANCE POLICY’S APPRAISAL CLAUSE ALLOWS CAUSATION DETERMINATIONS

In BonBeck Parker, LLC v. Travelers Indemnity Co. of America, 14 F.4^th 1169 (10^th Circ. 2021) the Court held that the Travelers policy permitted either party to request an appraisal on “the amount of loss,” which was a phrase with an ordinary meaning in the insurance context that unambiguously encompassed causation disputes.  The Circuit Court predicted that the Colorado Supreme Court would recognize that in the insurance context, the phrase “amount of loss” would encompass causation.  In doing so, the 10^th Circuit rejected Travelers’ argument that the appraisal clause was limited to monetary determinations, thereby precluding causation determinations.  Rather, the 10^th Circuit concluded that nothing in the dictionary definition of an appraiser did not indicate that appraisers were limited from considering causation as part of the estimation of value.