The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that One Church's lawsuit against Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company failed to properly allege the kind of 'manifest mistake' needed to reopen a binding appraisal award. After a 2019 windstorm, the church and insurer used the policy's appraisal process to agree on a $313,271.98 loss figure, which Brotherhood paid and the church accepted, before the church later sued claiming it found more than $206,000 in hidden damage.
The Court held that appraisal awards are meant to be final, overturned only for fraud, corruption, or gross mistake, and that the church's complaint never explained who found the additional damage, how, or why it wasn't caught earlier. Because Ohio procedure requires such claims to be pleaded with specificity, the vague allegation of 'additional hidden damages' wasn't enough, and the trial court's dismissal was reinstated.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.