Ruling On Repairing Damaged Siding
Monday, October 16th, 2000 PropertyA court ruling ordering an insurance company to replace undamaged siding of a house to reasonably match new siding on the damaged portion is "a mixed bag" containing both positive and negative components, an insurance official said today. "The industry is fairly pleased that District Judge Patricia Kerr Karasov kept her ruling rather case-specific," said Laura Kotelman, National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) associate counsel. The case involved complaints against American Family Mutual Insurance Company‘s handling of claims to replace siding of homes damaged by wind and hail storms in May and July 1998. "The court also accounted for mismatches due to weathering," Kotelman said, "and did not force American Family to replace more than the damaged area if the mismatch was due to weathering of the original siding.
