EACH PROPERTY ADJUSTED REQUIRES A SEPARATE DEDUCTIBLE FOR CLAIMS AGAINST FORUM-DEFENDANT INSURANCE ADJUSTING COMPANY UNDER ITS LIABILITY POLICY

In a decision last Monday, a trial court in the Southern District of Texas ruled that an insurance adjusting company must pay a deductible on each claim arising from its adjustment of Ike claims.  Cause No. 4:10- CV-01657; All Tech Claims Management, LLC, v. Philadelphia Indem. Ins. Co., in the Houston Divisions of the Southern District of Texas. (slip opinion). All-Tech had argued that it should only pay one deductible for all of its adjusting work arising out of Ike.  The court rejected that argument, finding that the several adjustments “are not logically or causally related.”  The court was not, however, without sympathy for All-Tech, noting that “the plight of companies like All-Tech is aggravated by the absence of facts to support a claim against them. Their joinder is largely an attempt to frustrate federal jurisdiction.”