First Assembly of God v. Ch Mtl Ins, 24-30173

First Assembly of God Church (FA), insured by Church Mutual Insurance (CM), suffered major property damage from Hurricane Laura in 2020 and promptly made an insurance claim.
CM made some payments but disputed the extent of coverage and delayed full payment, leading FA to invoke the policy’s appraisal clause.
After court-ordered appraisal, an umpire set an award higher than CM's estimate; CM still resisted paying the full amount.
A jury found that CM failed to make timely, sufficient payments; it awarded compensatory damages, penalties for bad faith under Louisiana law, and attorneys’ fees to FA.
CM appealed on grounds including procedural rulings, evidence sufficiency, damages calculation, bad faith penalties, and attorneys’ fee calculation.
The Fifth Circuit largely affirmed the district court but remanded on the issues of attorneys’ fees calculation and appellate attorneys’ fees.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (FA)	Defendant's Argument (CM)	Held
Validity of assignment to Hero Design	Assignment invalid due to lack of insurer consent	Assignment valid; tried to join Hero Design	Assignment not valid as CM’s written consent not given
Timing and merits of dispositive motion in limine	Motion was untimely, sought to dispose of claims	Motion was proper, not dispositive	District court did not abuse discretion; motion was untimely
Appraisal valuation not calculated as of loss date	Policy’s appraisal clause governs calculation	Damage must be valued as of loss per policy	Damages award valid; appraisal clause controls
Jury instruction on proof of loss	Written proof not required under law	Must be in writing	Not required to be in writing
Bad faith and penalties	CM did not make timely, adequate payments	Disputes existed, so no bad faith	Sufficient evidence for jury’s finding of bad faith
Sufficiency of evidence on damages	Contracts and invoices supported amount owed	Evidence speculative/insufficient	Jury’s valuation not clearly erroneous
Attorneys’ fees calculation	33.3% contingency reasonable; seek appeal fees	Should only be 30% per district court	Remanded for clarification and calculation

Trans-Serve, Inc. v. United States, 521 F.3d 462 (5th Cir. 2008) (standard of review for mixed questions of law and fact)
McDonnel Grp., L.L.C. v. Starr Surplus Lines Ins., 15 F.4th 343 (5th Cir. 2021) (insurance policy interpretation)
Cochran v. B.J. Servs. Co. USA, 302 F.3d 499 (5th Cir. 2002) (burden and strict construction for insurance exclusions)
Guillory v. Domtar Indus. Inc., 95 F.3d 1320 (5th Cir. 1996) (jury’s credibility determinations not to be disturbed on appeal)
Volkswagen of Am. v. Robertson, 713 F.2d 1151 (5th Cir. 1983) (damages evidence standards under Louisiana law)
Puga v. RCX Sols., Inc., 922 F.3d 285 (5th Cir. 2019) (review of jury charge for prejudicial error)