LaHaye v. Allstate Ins. Co.

570 So. 2d 460, 1990 WL 163123
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 14, 1990
Docket89-60
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 570 So. 2d 460 (LaHaye v. Allstate Ins. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
LaHaye v. Allstate Ins. Co., 570 So. 2d 460, 1990 WL 163123 (La. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

570 So.2d 460 (1990)

Wilfred C. LaHAYE, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 89-60.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

October 26, 1990.
As Amended and Recast on Grant of Rehearing in Part December 14, 1990.
Writ Denied February 22, 1991.

*462 Morrow & Morrow, Patrick C. Morrow, Opelousas, for plaintiff-appellant.

Roy & Hattan, M. Candice Hattan, Lafayette, for defendant-appellee.

Before LABORDE, KNOLL and KING, JJ.

*463 KNOLL, Judge.

The various issues raised in this appeal address the jury's assessment of the damages Wilfred C. LaHaye was entitled to receive from Allstate Insurance Company (hereafter Allstate) for the total loss of his home and contents as a result of a fire, over and above the $185,583.90 Allstate already paid, and whether the jury erred in denying his claim for penalties and attorney's fees.

The jury, by unanimous verdict, found that LaHaye was entitled to payment under his insurance policy in the total amount of $184,600 ($145,900 for loss of his home; $35,000 for loss of the contents; and, $3,700 for additional living expenses), a sum which was less than the amount already paid by Allstate, and that Allstate was not liable for the payment of penalties and attorney's fees. Subsequently, the trial court granted Allstate's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, reducing the jury's award for additional living expenses from $3,700 to $3,220, the amount established by the evidence, and denied LaHaye's motions for JNOV, additur, and a new trial.

LaHaye appeals contending that the trial court erred: (1) in refusing to grant his motion for JNOV on the issue of his entitlement to penalties and attorney's fees; (2) in allowing testimony referring to the bid of Paul Patin, Allstate's contractor, on the cost of rebuilding LaHaye's home, as well as references to an engineering report on the structural soundness of the concrete slab of the home; (3) in not increasing the jury verdict to $163,427.80 for the cost of rebuilding his home; (4) in allowing LaHaye's application for insurance from Allstate into evidence; (5) in allowing Allstate to enter into evidence LaHaye's past arrests, prior lawsuits filed by him, a prior loan application, his income figures, and social security benefits which he receives; (6) in allowing Allstate's entire investigative file into evidence; (7) in not awarding the total amount of the contents insurance coverage provided in the policy of insurance; (8) in granting Allstate's JNOV; and, (9) in assessing the costs of trial to LaHaye.

FACTS

On May 16, 1986, fire destroyed LaHaye's residence in Opelousas. Allstate does not dispute that the house fire was a covered loss or that the house and contents were a total loss. Rather, the controversy involves the valuation of the loss and whether Allstate is liable for penalties and attorney's fees for the arbitrary and capricious failure to pay the claim within the statutory time period. At the time of the fire, LaHaye had the following homeowner's insurance coverage with Allstate: $175,000 dwelling protection with a replacement guarantee; $87,500 contents protection; $500 reimbursement for fire department charges; $8,750 shrubbery protection; and, debris removal protection.

Three days after the fire, Kern Hamilton, Allstate's senior claims adjustor, met with LaHaye, and advanced money for temporary living expenses. At that time, Hamilton gave LaHaye an Allstate "proof of loss" form to complete and return to his office. The following day, Hamilton inspected LaHaye's home site, and determined that the house and contents were a total loss. Hamilton then requested a bid for rebuilding the house from Paul Patin. In the meantime, LaHaye at Allstate's urging, asked Leon Guillory to provide him with an estimate for rebuilding the home. Hamilton received Patin's bid of $141,400 on June 10, 1986, and Guillory's bid of $163,427.80 on June 25, 1986. The discrepancy between the two bids centered on whether fire cracked the old slab, or whether the cracks resulted from ground settling unconnected with the fire. Based on Patin's bid, Allstate tendered a check to LaHaye on August 14, 1986, in the amount of $146,300; this sum represented $141,400 for dwelling replacement, $4,500 for debris removal, and $400 for additional living expenses.

Approximately one month after the fire, LaHaye estimated his content loss at $110,000. Inquiries regarding this estimation were initiated by Allstate, and supplemental *464 explanations were provided by LaHaye. After LaHaye and Allstate were unable to reach any further agreement on the estimation of the content loss, Allstate sent LaHaye a check for the loss of contents in the amount of $37,693.90. This litigation then followed.

DWELLING VALUATION

LaHaye first contends that the jury was manifestly erroneous in failing to award $163,427.80 to reconstruct his home, and that the trial court erred in denying his motion for JNOV on this issue.

LaHaye first argues that the trial court erroneously admitted hearsay testimony into evidence. In particular, he cites the testimony of Hamilton, Allstate's claims adjustor, about the bid of Paul Patin on the construction cost of LaHaye's home, as well as Russell Bellard's engineering report on the condition of the concrete slab, and the introduction of those two documents into evidence as part of Allstate's investigative file. Neither Patin nor Bellard testified at trial.[1]

It is well settled in our jurisprudence that a party may, by an affirmative act or omission, waive or be estopped to make objections to the admission or exclusion of evidence. Such waiver or estoppel may arise from failure to object or from acts done or omitted before the evidence is offered. Pitts v. Bailes, 551 So.2d 1363 (La. App. 3rd Cir.), writs denied, 553 So.2d 860 (La.1989) and 556 So.2d 1262 (La.1990).

At trial, LaHaye called Hamilton under cross-examination. Among the specifics LaHaye elicited from Hamilton were the amount of Patin's bid, whether Patin would guarantee the house if he reconstructed it on the spoiled and cracked concrete slab, and the substance of conversations between Patin and Allstate regarding the bid. Hamilton also testified that Allstate hired an engineer to resolve questions of the structural integrity of the concrete slab. On direct examination, LaHaye objected when Allstate attempted to elicit testimony regarding Patin's bid and the conclusions of the engineer's report. In overruling the objection, the trial court instructed the jury that this evidence was admissible only for the purpose of its determination of whether Allstate was arbitrary and capricious in not paying for the cost of a new slab, and that it could not consider "the truth or falsity" of the reports because Patin and Bellard were not present to testify.

After carefully reviewing the record, we find that LaHaye waived his right to object to this evidence when he elicited extensive testimony from Hamilton about Patin's bid and Allstate's utilization of Bellard.

We now turn our attention to LaHaye's bifold contention that the jury erred in failing to award $163,427.80 for the replacement of his home, and that the trial court was manifestly erroneous in denying his motion for JNOV and additur. Finding Louisiana's Valued Policy Law applicable, we pretermit LaHaye's argument and award him recovery to the extent of the policy limits established in the insurance contract.

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Bluebook (online)
570 So. 2d 460, 1990 WL 163123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lahaye-v-allstate-ins-co-lactapp-1990.