Carriers are using "wear and tear" to dodge appraisal entirely
Archive story from the 2026-07-20 edition. This is the reporting as filed; source publication and event dates may differ. Check the dated storyline for subsequent developments.
Carriers are reframing scope disagreements as causation disputes, which lets them refuse appraisal and force policyholders to litigate coverage first.
A cluster of pieces this week exposes the mechanism: appraisal only decides the amount of a covered loss, not whether coverage exists. So carriers reframe a scope disagreement as a causation dispute ("that's wear and tear, not a covered event") and use it to refuse appraisal, forcing the policyholder to litigate coverage first. Companion pieces question whether the carrier's expert is truly independent and warn that a favorable expert can still be excluded by the judge.
Why it matters
Appraisal is the fastest, cheapest way to settle a disputed scope. If "wear and tear" becomes the standard move to escape it, every borderline water or roof job gets dragged toward litigation, where the small operator loses on time and cost.
Our assessment
Appraisal is supposed to be the cheap way out of a scope fight, which is why the argument moved. Reframe the disagreement as cause rather than amount and appraisal is off the table entirely. So document cause on day one, not just cost: the failure point photographed, moisture mapped, a timeline of when it started and how you know. That keeps the fast lane open.
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Legal Medium-High confidence at publication
How we got here
Storyline: coverage law 4 stories so far
What changed the appraisal-narrowing thread from 7/16 now has a named tactic, "wear and tear" as the causation-dispute escape hatch.
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- Carriers are using "wear and tear" to dodge appraisal entirely You are here