Shane Smith | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | August 25, 2017
This week, Oregon made national news as one of the best locations to view the Great American Eclipse. I realized I had not yet covered Oregon in my series on calculating actual cash value, leading to today’s blog.
In Growers Refrigerating Co. v. American Motorists Insurance Company,1 the insured commenced an action to recover for damage to pears stored in its cold storage plant as a result of contamination following an ammonia leak in refrigeration equipment.
Although the issue the court considered did not center on the cost of repairs, the court held the term actual cash value is defined as the market value at the time of the occurrence:2
We recognize that this is not a case involving the cost of repairs. We also agree that it would have been preferable for plaintiffs in this case to offer testimony framed more precisely in terms of the difference in the cash or market value of the pears before and after they were contaminated by ammonia. We nevertheless hold, however, that under the particular facts of this case evidence showing a comparison of the amounts received from contaminated and uncontaminated pears, together with evidence of the amounts paid in the adjustment of claims for contamination damage to the owners of the pears, was not only admissible, but that presumptively, and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, such amounts represented the difference between the value of the pears before and after they were contaminated by ammonia.
The jury in this case was properly instructed on the issue of damages in terms of cash or market value, as required by the provisions of the policy. We hold that there was sufficient evidence to support its verdict awarding damages to plaintiffs.
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1 Growers Refrigerating Co. v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 260 Or. 207, 488 P.2d 1358 (1971).
2 Id. at 1363, 1364.