Jennifer Van Voorhis | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | December 13, 2017
We received a request for a blog related to decisions on roof matching under homeowner’s policies of insurance. In 1997 the Insurance Commissioner’s Office of Montana took a position on roof matching under the contractual duty to make a policyholder “whole” again, and the query was whether Montana had case law or statutory provisions at this time that codifies that practice.
On August 20, 2003, John Morrison, Commissioner of Insurance, issued a Memorandum on replacing damaged roof materials, stating it was the continuing position of the agency that under a ‘make whole’ provision in any insurance contract, damaged roof materials must be replaced with similar quality, kind, texture and colored materials such that there is a reasonable match with any existing materials, and if materials that meet that criteria were not available, the existing materials must be replaced to match the new materials.
On July 6, 2009, Monica J. Lindeen, the Insurance Commissioner, issued an Advisory Memorandum on the replacement of damaged building materials, addressed to “All Licensed Insurers Authorized to Write Property/Casualty Insurance; All Insurance Producers Authorized to Sell, Solicit, or Negotiate Property; Casualty Insurance And Insurance Adjusters,” stating:
It is the position of this agency when a loss requires replacement of building materials that the materials must be replaced with similar quality, kind, texture, and colored materials such that there is a reasonable match with any existing materials. In the event that materials which meet these criteria are not available, the existing materials must be replaced to achieve a match. This applies to interior and exterior losses.
Other than these two additional Insurance bulletins, I was unable to find a codification of this premise in Montana Legislature or insurance code.