Hello, our insured had a fire 4-23-24 that totally destroyed their unattached garage/shop. Our company paid out the Policy Limit under Coverage B because of South Dakotas Valued Policy Law. Now on 6-26-24 the insured had a bad hail storm that did extensive to a $4500.00 greenhouse along with the dwelling roof etc.. Question is, do we owe for the green house even though we had previously paid Policy Limit for the garage/shop in the same Policy Period? Thank you in advance for your reply.
I see nothing in the South Dakota valued policy statute that states that once limits have been paid for one loss that the limits are exhausted for all future, separate losses. Also, the valued policy law applies only to loss from fire, tornado or lightning, not hail. The law S.D. Codified Laws § 58-10-10 clearly states:
"Whenever any policy of insurance is written or renewed to insure any real property in this state, including structures on land owned by a person other than the insured, against loss by fire, tornado, or lightning and the property insured is wholly destroyed, without criminal fault on the part of the insured or the insured’s assigns, the amount of insurance written in the policy shall be taken conclusively to be the true value of the property insured and the true amount of loss and measure of damages, with the following conditions:"
Unless your policy has something in the loss settlement provisions, a previous fire loss would have no bearing on a later hail loss.