Perry vs USAA

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS

══════════

No. 19-0210

══════════

DELLA R. PERRY, PETITIONER,

v.

UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION, RESPONDENT

══════════════════════════════════════════

ON PETITION FOR REVIEW FROM THE

COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

══════════════════════════════════════════

PER CURIAM

At issue in this insurance dispute is whether an insurer's payment of an appraisal award bars an insured's claims under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (TPPCA), codified as Chapter 542 of the Insurance Code. The court of appeals concluded it did. Because the court of appeals' opinion is inconsistent with our recent decisions on this issue, we now reverse.

Della Perry's residential property sustained damage from a storm. After its inspection, United Services Automobile Association (USAA)—Perry's insurance provider—paid her the cash value of her claim, which amounted to $5,153. Believing the property damage was undervalued, Perry sued USAA, asserting contractual and extra-contractual theories and invoking the insurance policy's appraisal clause.

The appraisers valued the damage at almost $15,000. USAA paid Perry the balance of the award ($9,335) and subsequently moved for summary judgment on all of her claims. First, USAA argued that because it paid the appraisal award, Perry did not lack any benefits to which she was entitled under her insurance policy. Second, USAA asserted that because Perry's claim for breach of contract failed, her Insurance Code and DTPA claims also failed as a matter of law. The trial court granted summary judgment for USAA, and the court of appeals affirmed, holding that Perry was barred from pursuing her extra-contractual claims as a matter of law because she received all her policy benefits. ___ S.W.3d ___, ___ (Tex. App.—Amarillo 2018). The court of appeals reasoned that once USAA paid the appraisal award, the injury Perry suffered was neither independent nor distinct from her contractual claims, and she was therefore prohibited from pursuing her statutory claims. Id. at ___.

Perry filed a petition asking this Court to review whether, in light of our opinion in USAA Texas Lloyds Co. v. Menchaca, 545 S.W.3d 479 (Tex. 2018), an insurer's timely payment of an appraisal award extinguishes an insured's claims under the Texas Insurance Code.^[1] Meanwhile, we decided two cases relevant to the issues Perry raises in her petition. In Barbara Technologies Corp. v. State Farm Lloyds, we held that "payment in accordance with an appraisal is neither an acknowledgment of liability nor a determination of liability under the policy for purposes of TPPCA damages under section 542.060." 589 S.W.3d 806, 820 (Tex. 2019). On the same day, we restated in Ortiz v. State Farm Lloyds that "an insurer's payment of an appraisal award does not as a matter of law bar an insured's claims under the Prompt Payment Act." 589 S.W.3d 127, 135 (Tex. 2019).

The court of appeals concluded that, as a matter of law, Perry could not maintain her

TPPCA claim due to USAA's payment of the appraisal award. Under Barbara Technologies and Ortiz, this was error. Without hearing oral argument, see TEX. R. APP. P. 59.1, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and remand the case to the trial court to consider Perry's TPPCA claim in light of those decisions.^[2]

OPINION DELIVERED: June 19, 2020