Opinion ID: 895317
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Propriety of mandamus relief

Text: We have held that mandamus relief is appropriate to enforce an appraisal clause because denying the appraisal would vitiate the insurer's right to defend its breach of contract claim. In re Allstate Cnty. Mut. Ins. Co., 85 S.W.3d 193, 196 (Tex.2002). There, as here, the parties... agreed in the contracts' appraisal clause to the method by which to determine whether a breach has occurred, and, if the appraisal determined that the full value was what the insurer offered, there would be no breach of contract. Id. The same is true here. We conditionally grant the writ of mandamus and direct the trial court to grant Universal's motion to compel appraisal. [5] See id. (holding that refusal to order appraisal would den[y] the development of proof going to the heart of a party's case and cannot be remedied by appeal). We are confident the trial court will comply, and our writ will issue only if it does not. Justice LEHRMANN did not participate in the decision.