Opinion ID: 213920
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Timely initiation of claim

Text: The Plaintiffs additionally claim that they are entitled to § 22:658 penalties because Allstate allegedly failed to initiate loss adjustment on the contents claim in a timely manner. Section 22:658(A)(3) provides in relevant part: In the case of catastrophic loss, the insurer shall initiate loss adjustment of a property damage claim within thirty days after notification of loss by the claimant. Failure to comply with the provisions of this Paragraph shall subject the insurer to the penalties provided in R.S. 22:1220. [17] The initiation of loss adjustment requires that the insurer take some substantive and affirmative step to accumulate the facts that are necessary to evaluate the claim. Talton v. USAA Cas. Ins. Co., 981 So.2d 696, 706 (La.Ct.App.2008) (internal quotation marks omitted) (citing Hollier v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 799 So.2d 793, 797 (La.Ct.App.2001)). A reasonable interpretation of these two statutes [§ 22:658(A)(3) and § 22:1220] indicates that in order to subject an insurer to penalties for failing to initiate loss adjustment in a timely manner, the insurer must be found to have breached the duty of good faith. Oubre v. La. Citizens Fair Plan, 53 So.3d 492, 505 (La.Ct.App.2010). The Plaintiffs contend that Allstate untimely initiated loss adjustment on their contents claim because Allstate waited 38 days from notification to assign a contents adjuster to the Plaintiffs' claim. Allstate responds that it initiated loss adjustment on the contents claim in late September 2005within 30 days of notificationwhen Favel went to the Plaintiffs' home to investigate all of the Plaintiffs' claims under their homeowners policy. This factual dispute was squarely presented below, as the district court permitted the Plaintiffs to amend the joint pre-trial order to add this issue to the list of contested issues of fact for trial. At the conclusion of trial, the district court found that Allstate had not acted in bad faith with respect to the contents claim and therefore was not liable for any penalties on that claim. Having reviewed the record, we find no clear error on this finding.