Gebers v. State Farm General Insurance

Opinion

POCHÉ, J.

Insurance Code section 2071 requires that all fire insurance policies include a provision requiring disputes as to the amount of a loss to be arbitrated by a panel composed of “disinterested” appraisers selected by the insurer and the insured. State Farm General Insurance Company instead placed in its policy a provision describing the party-designated appraisers not as “disinterested” but as “independent.” On the basis of this changed language State Farm argues that it can select an appraiser who may be biased in the insurer’s favor by reason of a pecuniary interest in an…