Owners Insurance Company, a Michigan Corporation, Petitioner v. Dakota Station Ii Condominium Association, Inc., A…

Summary

The court held that the insurance policy's requirement for each party to select an impartial appraiser requires appraisers to be unbiased, disinterested, and unswayed by personal interest, and prohibits advocacy for either party. It rejected the argument that a contingent-cap fee agreement made the appraiser partial as a matter of law because the cap was not believed to apply, was not invoked, and bore no apparent relationship to the fees or estimates at issue. The court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for the trial court to evaluate the appraiser's conduct under the proper impartiality standard. Justice Samour, joined by Chief Justice Coats, concurred in part and dissented in part, arguing that the policy allowed party-selected appraisers to advocate for their positions.