Opinion ID: 213920
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Entitlement to Additional Living Expenses

Text: The Plaintiffs next contend that they are entitled to payment under the Additional Living Expenses (ALE) provision of their homeowners policy and that the district court erred in denying payment. The policy's ALE provision, appearing in the subsection titled Additional Protection, states: Additional Living Expenses a) We will pay the reasonable increase in living expenses necessary to maintain your normal standard of living when a direct physical loss we cover. . . makes your residence premises uninhabitable. . . . . Payment for additional living expense as a result of a covered loss . . . will be limited to the least of the following: 1. the time period required to repair or replace the property we cover, using due diligence and dispatch; or 2. if you permanently relocate, the shortest time for your household to settle elsewhere; 3. 12 months. The Plaintiffs assert that testimony at trial established that they would require approximately $5,000 a month to maintain their standard of living while their home was being repaired. Assuming that it would take at least 12 months to repair their home, the Plaintiffs requested ALE benefits of $60,000. The district court concluded that because the Plaintiffs had not introduced evidence of any additional living expenses actually incurred, they were not entitled to payments under the ALE provision. Were the Plaintiffs to later commence repairs that required them to vacate their home, and thereby incur ALE, the district court stated, they could then claim payment under the provision. On appeal, the Plaintiffs do not dispute that they have not established the predicate requirement of actually incurring ALE. Indeed, it is undisputed that the Plaintiffs have continuously resided at their house since 2003 and have not commenced any permanent repairs to their home. Instead, the Plaintiffs again argue that their failure to repair should be excused under Article 1772 of the Louisiana Civil Code. And again, we decline to address this argument raised for the first time on appeal. We do note our agreement with the district court that under the homeowners policy, it appears that the Plaintiffs may later claim ALE payment once they have actually incurred those expenses.