my name is derek ryan see if i represent dr and dr newman we have an interesting case here involving a very expensive motor vehicle that was damaged severely damage an accident in march of two thousand and twelve the issue becomes whether or not allstate acted in good faith or appropriately in delaying their completion of the appraisal process until november of two thousand and twelve during that time period as the record reflects the newmans paid approximately four thousand dollars a month in car payments paid for continuing insurance with allstate insurance paid for storage on the vehicle and during that time period the vehicle went down in value salvage value from seventy two thousand to fifty thousand so we are talking about a significant amount of money the main issue here is whether judge  appraiser he doesn't purport to be qualified to act as an appraiser he adopted somebody else he was acting as a judge not as an appraiser i'm a i'm a judge i don't think i'm qualified as an appraiser just because i'm a judge i decide all sorts of things that doesn't mean i'm knowledgeable in my field i wind up around basing my decision on what experts in the field come in and say that's what i judge alito did that doesn't make him an a he's ruled on medical malpractise cases i bet that doesn't make him a doctor no but that's a different standard why because the appraisal standard in the contract is not the folly it says qualified appraiser and what what is the definition if you want to get your your house appraised because you need to get a mortgage you're going to call judgment oh of course not why not because the bank would not accept it because the bank has written guidelines and rules which must be followed so why should we accept the notion of qualified appraiser as open to judgment also appraisers and real estate situations are licensed in situations such as this there is no license requirement to be a licensed car appraiser suppose you're  tax return you've got these antiques you're claiming to duction for because your father passed away and left a new museum schedule a co a qualified appraiser the irish should accept as as a basis for valuing those antiques if he has the basis to render that opinion yes in the gang a judge gives him the basis to render that opinion but are under the ira standards that you've just expelled aren't there rule saying what i preach the requirements are and i think you'll find that there are if we're going to bring in the i r s rules they have written guidelines as to what is required for that appraisal but what we're losing sight of is even of judge alito is not qualified allstate insurance doesn't bring in their appraiser until november nine months after the accident their first person they say is an appraiser he was an appraiser he was a body shop mechanic who owned a body shop he says he has never been a qualified appraiser mr weiss the appraiser they have selected in september after the lawsuit was filed he said i never agreed to be an appraiser in this he then writes as his decision in it's november of two thousand and twelve he writes what he feels at the damages which is more than what allstate first came in with who would be the qualified appraiser with eagle eyes body shop the guy who wrote the estimate would he be a qualified appraiser could he have been selected judge alito accepted eli's position then when it came time for the umpire to make the decision because judge alito had underwent a heart attack the one from a coach where it would show the vehicle he looks like to the trades he gave his opinion and the appraisal process went through forward in may of two thousand and thirteen and the determination was by the empire that the amount was higher than what all stated offered higher than what all state appraisers had found and halfway in between the two numbers here's the bigger question what do the allstate have to act in good faith right let's assume that the argument that judge alito wasn't qualified does allstate have a duty to do anything during this appraisal process look at the the record is clear the first appraiser set i was never going to be appraiser and he never looked at the car you have delay after delay after delay which leads us finally to mr weiss branding here is opinion as to the damage and car that they had to make payments and they didn't think so that's good news if it was it's not usable and they were still making payments but i don't know how old state would be required to know that they were making monthly payments they might have owned it outright they were informed of that and correspondence and every of which are catch to the record which were attached to the emotions how long does allstate have before they have to comply with the appraisal request by the newmans in june of two thousand and twelve what is a reasonable time period when you're dealing with a car that has a value of two hundred thousand dollars how long can all state just sit back and do nothing how long can all state go to someone and he says to under under oath on the record i didn't know that i was being appraiser i've never been an appraiser is a body shop operator because they issued the checks the partial payment checks to the newmans and to the credit company credit agency that only had title on the vehicle and they were informed as to what the monthly payments were and they dragged their feet policy covers both property damage and liability the right to appraisal each side will appoint and pay a qualified appraiser and that appraiser is supposed to state the value here  that he had a great deal of experience in praising matters is this didn't detail any automobiles but he had generalized statement why does that raise a trival issue of fact as to whether the pla complied with the contractual provision of qualify the praiser is not a for the jury is whether he's qualified or not i don't think it is in this case especially in light of the fact that it's the judge's job to interpret the contract and to determine what qualified appraiser means and in this clause the qualified appraiser has to state the value and the notion that you don't have to know anything about what it takes to actually repair a bentley what kind of parts  how much time it's going to take what the labor charges are and how much time even that the the owner might be out of use of the course you that the rules of interpretation determine whether the person is qualified or not the jury the judge might determine what the word qualified means but its application to the facts would be done by jury would not typically when first of all the way to interpret an matter whether he's even an appraiser i think is up to the judge and that's going to turn on dictionary meanings of what an appraiser it is meaning for example in websters a person given authority to make a thorough and correct  valuation on property of any kind and as judge otero pointed out in his opinion and he's correct california case law is very clear that an appraiser and earn insurance appraisal clause has only one function and that is to examine and declare what the value of the loss was and i would submit that a judge such as yourselves would not be in a position to assess what it takes to repair a quar in particular accident but looking at the car and determining what it was going to take in terms of time labor and materials to work that out and i think that the decision the judge otero made that the caught the contract meant what it meant it meant a qualified appraiser for automotive loss is absolutely correct and it is not something that  a judge will do it is a job for the courts to determine what the policy means here judge alito didn't even say he had any qualifications that would enable him to actually assess the loss in addition it was undisputed he never looked at the core he didn't see it he didn't prepare anything and the plaintiffs appellants in their own complaint alleged that it was all staged breach by failing to prepare an appraisal and so the notion that the appellant's appraiser didn't have to do the same thing i think is a little bit  like what july twenty third gains we're looking at at sixteen months since like an awfully long time in the thrust of plaintiff's claim is that separate and apart from the ultimate payment that was received for the amount determined by the umpire allstate dropped the ball by causing the process to take way longer than it should have well it looks like the process took my way longer than you think it should have a long time your honor but let's keep a couple of things in mind the complaint was filed the very day that mr weiss conducted his inspection that was in september of two thousand and twelve there was no question the judge alito didn't even get appointed until mid to late july as the other side's appraiser there was also the issue with mr pm betty all these facts were laid out and they were none of them were disputed the car wasn't ready for anybody to inspect it because the damage was sufficient that it had to be put on specialized jig saw it could be turned and twisted and looked at there was an argument and there are the letters are all part of the record in which counsel for all state tried to get things moving so that mr r betty who everybody agreed maybe he wasn't he didn't use the word appraiser he said that he was retained to repair an estimate that's what a preacher's do there was no question about that he wanted the car moved to a you're not moving the car well within a week another appraiser is out there he does the appraiser and they file suit that day now after they filed suit the plaintiffs flat out refused to work with allstate at all they wouldn't talk to them and allstate had to come file motion after the lawsuits filed to compel the completion of the appraisal process that was not all states fault that was the helots fault and i think when judge  terra looked at this all the facts were laid out really none of them in dispute none of the chronology was in dispute nobody's qualifications were really disputed arguments yes but no real dispute over what happened and when it happened i think the decision was correct and on to novo review what we would ask you to do is to write an opinion that looks just like judge otero's we would ask that you affirm thank you fifteen you asked a very important question what took so long because you asked a very important question what took so long and we're talking about a large loss of money and a vehicle carcass that was diminishing in value we have an accident early march an accident where there is no question of insurance coverage no question of liability on the third party we have a clear damage vehicle and we have all state allstate kept on going out looking the car writing a new estimate writing a new estimate three different times they went out after significant delays finally of the doesn't appear to be true that the new estimates are that the additional that was discovered as parts of the car are removed and there's not a claim i have heard from your claim that this car was ready for inspection and order from the very beginning in fact it is the case that it took time for based upon their experience kill in training of approx three hundred thirty thousand that variance never change from day one right all state kept on asking for more proof more proof more proof finally the newmans got so frustrated they've got a card that they paid a lot of money all right once a cardiologist once in the terminal medicine at cedars they put a lot of money for this car they're paying a lot of money to store the car to pay for the car in a monthly payments basis and they're getting a diminishing of value on the carcass finally they get frustrated and on june twelfth they say we've got to go to the appraisal process and what is the appraisal process it's something that is economically really not feasible for anyone who has a toyota camry but these people have a bentley g t convertible so they go into the appraisal process now what's telling in terms of all states understanding of the appraisal process is do they go to an appraiser if you give them an appraisal no they go to another body shop well stop right there because what basis is there for you to argue that a body shop isn't qualified appraiser given that your so called qualified appraiser relied on eli's estimate and he lies in a body shop i don't have a problem with that i don't have a problem with mr p being selected as an appraiser but the he repairs high end vehicles he is he a qualified appraisal is the gentleman who wrote the appraiser and eat ice he is qualified appraiser i think they're both qualified but mr p didn't agree to serve as an appraiser all state lived they said he's agreed in fact he had never agreed and this is very clear and undisputed in the record he had never agreed to be the appraiser and in fact he did not want to go to his competit give an estimate but he never agreed to be an appraisal what's the difference well we can't a contract saying what's the difference in my mind or really is nothing ok then then then you have a difference but he never  thought it was going to go out and give an estimate that he didn't know that estimate was going to be attached to any well that's a qualified appraiser what's the difference doesn't he have to agree to be appraisal participate in the process why isn't that part of the did eli's ever agree to be a qualified appraiser that's all the judge will tell relied on right now by rex did you guys ever agree to be a quote qualified appraiser i mean that's a label without a distinction for me let me tell you why i believe you're wrong on that point because not only do you have to agree to be a qualified appraiser you have to participate in the process with the umpire you have to meet we've the newmans appraiser just which judge alito did meet with mr weiss history the first person they went to did not another one is the problems about this case because the record suggests to me that they were contributed to by both sides now am i missing so here's what i think your midst at what point in time do the newmans throw up their hands and say you haven't given us an appraisal you haven't participated in the process we're filing a lawsuit and the record reflects that they all fit w given the significant period of time saying mr p is not going to be your preacher he said he's not going to be your prey's or he said he's not going to be involved in this process eliza saying mr pease got to go to the car because it's broken down and they have a lien on the vehicle and they don't want to leave their yard mr pease got to go to the body shop i don't think that's unreasonable and the newman finally said come on we're losing five thousand a month out of pocket plus were occurring storage charges you got to get off the ball here and they refused and then they instructed a lawsuit to be filed in superior court which was later remember removed and then when it came time for the appraisal process take place there was no letter saying we won't deal with all things there was a letter saying we won't deal with the first attorney who has a lot flat out lie about whether mr peet would be the appraiser and then you have the foot dragging will you interpret it as you