{"id":36813,"date":"2024-02-05T22:05:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T22:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/?post_type=publications&#038;p=36813"},"modified":"2025-11-24T19:19:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T19:19:37","slug":"texas-supreme-court-rules-to-foreclose-attorneys-fees-in-first-party-appraisal-context","status":"publish","type":"publications","link":"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/texas-supreme-court-rules-to-foreclose-attorneys-fees-in-first-party-appraisal-context\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Supreme Court Rules to Foreclose Attorney\u2019s Fees in First Party Appraisal Context"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/texas-Header-1.jpg\" alt=\"Texas Supreme Court Rules to Foreclose Attorney\u2019s Fees in First Party Appraisal Context\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Supreme Court of Texas has issued its much-anticipated opinion on an open attorney\u2019s fees question in the area of First Party Property appraisals.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The issue came to the Texas Supreme Court on a certified question from the 5th Circuit and considers the practical effect of the Texas Legislature\u2019s 2017 amendments to the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act, Chapter 542, Insurance Code.&nbsp; In short, Texas Insurance Code Chapter 542A, among other reforms, sets forth a statutory formula to determine&nbsp;the amount of an attorney\u2019s fees awarded for a prevailing insured in a weather-related first party property case against an insurer. Under the statute, the amount of reasonable and necessary attorney\u2019s fees a prevailing insured can recover is reduced when the \u201camount to be awarded in the judgment\u201d is less than the amount the insured claims is owed. &nbsp;In the appraisal context, insurers have paid the appraisal award, along with an amount sufficient to cover any potential statutory interest under Chapter 542A, then made the argument there can be no \u201camount to be awarded in the judgment\u201d such that there is <strong>no<\/strong> liability for attorney\u2019s fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the recent ruling, the Texas Supreme Court agreed with this argument, noting that when a carrier pays the appraisal amount plus any possible statutory interest, it has &#8220;complied with its obligations under the policy.&#8221;&nbsp; In doing so, there is no remaining &#8220;amount to be awarded in the judgment,\u201d and attorney\u2019s fees are not available.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going forward, this ruling should return the appraisal process to its intended function &#8211; an inexpensive and prompt resolution of claims, without the need for litigation &#8211; and avoid late invocation of appraisal as gamesmanship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have any questions about the ruling, please contact the authors of this article or your Dinsmore attorney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court of Texas has issued its much-anticipated opinion on an open attorney\u2019s fees question in the area of First Party Property appraisals.&nbsp; The issue came to the Texas Supreme Court on a certified question from the 5th Circuit and considers the practical effect of the Texas Legislature\u2019s 2017 amendments to the Texas Prompt\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"publication-type":[12],"class_list":["post-36813","publications","type-publications","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","publication-type-legal-alerts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Texas Supreme Court Rules to Foreclose Attorney\u2019s Fees in First Party Appraisal Context - Dinsmore &amp; Shohl<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Texas Supreme Court Rules to Foreclose Attorney\u2019s Fees in First Party Appraisal Context Read insights and legal analysis from attorneys at Dinsmore &amp; Shohl LLP.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/texas-supreme-court-rules-to-foreclose-attorneys-fees-in-first-party-appraisal-context\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas Supreme Court Rules to Foreclose Attorney\u2019s Fees in First Party Appraisal Context\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Texas Supreme Court Rules to Foreclose Attorney\u2019s Fees in First Party Appraisal Context Read insights and legal analysis from attorneys at Dinsmore &amp; Shohl LLP.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/texas-supreme-court-rules-to-foreclose-attorneys-fees-in-first-party-appraisal-context\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dinsmore &amp; 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