The California Supreme Court has ruled that insurers can be sued by policyholders who later discover damage that the insurers' adjusters miss, even if the deadline to file legal action has expired.
In the case, Peter Vu, a policyholder whose house was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, sued his insurer, Prudential Property & Casualty Insurance Co., after he found extensive damage to the house that Prudential's adjuster didn't find. A lower court had tossed out the lawsuit, saying it was filed after the one year statute of limitations. Under the state insurance code, any legal action must be filed within one year from the time of the event that caused the damage.
