Smith v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company

Filing 20

ORDER denying 15 Motion for Reconsideration. Signed by District Judge Keith Starrett on 6/4/2014 (scp)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI
SOUTHERN DIVISION
JAMES SMITH
V.

PLAINTIFF
CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:13-CV-572-KS-MTP

STATE FARM FIRE AND CASUALTY
COMPANY

DEFENDANT

ORDER
Plaintiff filed a Motion for Reconsideration [15] of the Court’s earlier Order [13]
denying Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel [7] and Motion to Stay [9]. “It is clear . . . under
Mississippi law that the purpose of an appraisal is not to determine the cause of loss
or coverage under an insurance policy; rather, it is ‘limited to the function of
determining the money value of the property’ at issue.” Jefferson Davis County Sch.
Dist. v. RSUI Indent., No. 2:08-CV-190, 2009 WL 367688, at *2 (S.D. Miss. Feb. 11,
2009) (quoting Munn v. Nat’l Fire Ins. Co., 115 So. 2d 54, 55 (Miss. 1959)); see also
Pearl River County Sch. Dist. v. RSUI Indem. Co., No. 1:08-CV-364-HSO-JMR, 2009
WL 2553267, at *1 (S.D. Miss. Aug. 17, 2009).
According to Defendant’s Answer [3], Defendant disagrees with Plaintiff as to
the extent of the damage caused by the subject fire, and Defendant claims that
Plaintiff failed to mitigate his damages. Therefore, this case involves factual disputes
as to the cause of loss, which necessarily lead to legal disputes as to coverage.
Accordingly, an appraisal would be inappropriate at this time, and the Court denies
Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration [15]. Pearl River, 2009 WL 2553267 at *1;

Jefferson Davis, 2009 WL 3677688 at *2.1
SO ORDERED AND ADJUDGED this 4th day of June, 2014.

s/ Keith Starrett
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

1

To the extent Judge Senter’s opinion in Kuehn v. State Farm Fire & Cas.
Co., No. 1:08-CV-577-LTS-RHW, 2009 WL 2567485 (S.D. Miss. Aug. 17, 2009),
conflicts with this decision, the undersigned judge respectfully disagrees with it.
2