Drivers in Washington state can collect for diminished value
following post-accident repairs, CRASH Network reports.

The report stems from a Washington
Supreme Court Ruling that came down earlier this year involving David
Moeller, who filed suit on behalf of himself and other Farmers Insurance
policyholders. The lawsuit claimed Farmers breached contract by failing to pay
the difference in value of Moeller’s vehicle after it was properly repaired.

Despite the proper repairs, the car had diminished value and
the difference in worth pre and post-accident was owed to the customer, Moeller’s
attorneys successfully argued.

The Supreme Court, by a 5-4 margin, ruled in favor of the
insured, saying the policy “does not covey to the average policyholder that the
value of the coverage may be less if Farmers repairs a vehicle rather than
replacing or ‘totaling’ it.”

According to CRASH Network, the court paid particular
attention to ‘like kind and quality’. Farmers contended that the phrase applies
only to parts used in repairs, not the value of the car. “But even Farmers’
interpretation does not rule out a reading of the contract that reasonably
assumes that repairs of like kind and quality will return the car to its pre-accident
value,” the Supreme Court ruled. “Under the policy, the phrase ‘like kind and quality’
applies to replacement as well as repair. Farmers does not contend that in
replacing a damaged car, an acceptable substitute is a replacement that has
suffered an accident. This would put the insurer in the position he found
himself after the accident, not before.”

As for measuring diminished value, CRASH points out the court didn’t
reveal how this would be done.