By The Restoration HQ desk · · filed under Coverage Law
Ohio Supreme Court: once you sign the appraisal award, it's closed, even if you find more damage
The Ohio Supreme Court held that a binding appraisal award can't be reopened just because hidden damage turns up afterward, you have to show fraud or manifest mistake "with particularity." In the case, the carrier's first estimate was $3,192; appraisal came back at $313,272; the church later found another $206,663 in concealed damage and was told the award stands.
FORGood. Finality protects everyone from endless re-litigation, and it rewards the contractor who does a real investigation up front instead of guessing and hoping to supplement later.
AGAINSTA carrier can lowball by 99%, get corrected at appraisal, and still hide behind "finality" when the real damage shows up. This ruling hands insurers a reason to never reinvestigate in good faith.
Consensus vs. contrarianThe coverage bar will frame this as a clean win for appraisal certainty. The sharper operator read: finality only helps the party that did its homework, and in practice that's usually the carrier with the standing estimating team. The independents who beat it are the ones who treat pre-appraisal scoping, full tear-out testing, documented, as the whole ballgame, not the ones who plan to true it up on a supplement.
Sources Merlin Law Group / Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog, www.propertyinsurancecoveragelaw.com/blog/th… (published ). Case: One Church v. Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Co., Ohio Supreme Court, decided 2026-07-23.