Citizens Appraisal Clause Requires Agreement Of Parties

In Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. Casar (3D11-2843), the Third District reversed the trial court's order compelling appraisal because the insurance policy at issuer required the agreement of the parties before appraisal could be invoked. Specifically, the court stated we "reverse as there was no agreement between the parties to appraise the loss as required by the appraisal provision of the Citizens policy." The court stated that "appraisals are creatures of contract" and "what is appraised and whether a party can be compelled to appraisal depend on the contract provisions." In this case, "Citizens complied with the appraisal provisions of the Policy. Citizens forwarded an Agreement for Appraisal. The Casars would not agree to the terms. Therefore, appraisal could not take place. Citizens complied with the policy provisions and, as such, the trial court had no basis to compel Citizens to appraisal." Therefore, the order compelling appraisal was reversed.