Brentwood Tennessee SUV Fire

George Fusner

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 630

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Chanel Five News reports an SUV fire in Brentwood last night. Fortunately no one was injuried. Its hard to tell from the picture what is the make of the vehicle. However, if it is a GM product there are some ironic twists to the story.

If the owners have comprehensive insurance coverage on the vehicle the insurance company will then have to pay the actual cash value. Couch on Insurance defines actual cash value as:

In the great majority of cases, the limitation to “actual cash value” is expressed in the following terms: The insurer will not be liable beyond the actual cash value of the property at the time any loss or damage occurs, and the loss or damage must be ascertained or estimated according to such actual cash value, with proper deduction for depreciation, however caused, and will in no event exceed what it would then cost the insured to repair or replace the same with material of like kind and quality.

Then the insurance company would pursue a subrogation claim against the responsible party to recover its loss. If it was caused by a defect in the vehicle and the SUV was still under warranty, GM would pick up the tab with our governments backing.

Now the ironic part. If the fire had seriously injuried somebody or burned them to death guess what? NO recovery under the current government sponsored bankruptcy plan. Read this great post for a good explanation of what is happening.