Hochman v. American Family Insurance

Bullock, J.:

Myron Hochman insured a $30,000 combine owned both by Myron and his father Martin with the American Family Insurance Company under a replacement cost policy. On July 9, 1981, the combine caught fire. The fire was extinguished before the combine was a total loss. The cost of repairing the combine at the repair shop Myron chose was $19,582. American now concedes it wrongly treated the policy as a “value” policy rather than a replacement cost policy. In fact, American offered Hochmans $14,243.20, American’s idea of the “depreciated” value of needed parts and labor. American also gave…