First Baptist Ch v. Church Mutual Ins, 105 F.4th 775

First Baptist Church of Iowa, Louisiana (FB Church) suffered major property damage from Hurricane Laura in August 2020 and filed a claim under its commercial insurance policy with Church Mutual Insurance Company (CM Insurance).
FB Church's claim covered three buildings; disputes arose over repair costs and estimates, including those for the church's main building, the parsonage, and a vacant building.
After allegedly inadequate and delayed payments, FB Church hired its own licensed adjuster and later an attorney, leading to litigation against CM Insurance for additional damages and statutory penalties under Louisiana law.
The district court found for FB Church after a bench trial, awarding substantial damages, statutory penalties, attorney’s fees, and costs, relying primarily on the estimate of FB Church’s expert adjuster.
CM Insurance appealed, raising issues with the calculation of damages, the interpretation and application of the insurance policy, the award of penalties, and the admissibility of FB Church’s expert report.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Policy Ambiguity & Date of Pricing	Policy is ambiguous; replacement cost should reflect actual expenses, not date-of-loss pricing	Policy unambiguously requires costs to be calculated "as of the time of loss"	Policy unambiguous; damages must be recalculated using prices at time of loss
Credibility/Admissibility of Damage Estimates	FB Church’s expert was a licensed adjuster with a thorough estimate	CM Insurance’s engineer estimate should be trusted; criticizes FB Church expert’s report	District court did not err in crediting FB Church expert’s estimate over engineer’s
Statutory Bad Faith Penalties	CM Insurance failed to pay undisputed amounts timely and claim handling was arbitrary/capricious	Payments not untimely; damages were disputed throughout; preliminary estimates	Sufficient notice and proof; first payment untimely, penalties warranted, calculated on total loss
Admissibility of Plaintiff’s Expert Report	Report supported by expert testimony and thorough inspection	Report didn’t comply with expert disclosure rules, should be excluded	Argument forfeited by failure to object at trial; report properly considered

French v. Allstate Indem. Co., 637 F.3d 571 (5th Cir. 2011) (review standard for factual findings in bench trials; penalty calculation on total loss)
Grilletta v. Lexington Ins. Co., 558 F.3d 359 (5th Cir. 2009) (district court’s credibility determinations in favor of policyholder’s expert)
Cadwallader v. Allstate Ins. Co., 848 So. 2d 577 (La. 2003) (rules for interpreting insurance contracts under Louisiana law)
La. Bag Co., Inc. v. Audubon Indem. Co., 999 So. 2d 1104 (La. 2008) (standards for proof of loss and insurer’s bad faith under La. Rev. Stat. § 22:1892)
Dickerson v. Lexington Ins. Co., 556 F.3d 290 (5th Cir. 2009) (good faith disputes and statutory penalties for insurer conduct)