Restoration operator guide · September 2026

Who Caused the Delay

What a mixed Indiana appeals ruling means for contractors: when deadlines get missed, courts look at who made them impossible to meet.

Inspired by reporting from Insurance Business on a September 10, 2026 Indiana Court of Appeals decision.

On September 10, the Court of Appeals of Indiana handed down a mixed ruling in a Nationwide homeowners claim dispute that has been in litigation since 2021 — and it deserves your attention not because of who won, but because of the question the court kept returning to: who caused the delay?

This isn't a story about a bad carrier or a wronged homeowner. It's a legal test with practical consequences for anyone who works storm losses. When deadlines get missed, courts look at who made them impossible to meet.

What happened

In June 2019, tornado winds dropped a large tree on an Indiana couple's home. Their Nationwide policy carried a $451,400 dwelling limit plus a replacement-cost endorsement up to 150% of that limit.

Nationwide's initial adjustment came in at $226,447.19 and excluded foundation damage. An appraisal panel later set the dwelling replacement cost at $557,106.51 — roughly $330,000 above the carrier's original number.

From there, the timeline got messy. Nationwide paid up to the base policy limit but withheld a $16,777.40 actual-cash-value amount tied to the endorsement, and didn't pay a $12,780.46 inflation-protection amount until May 2023 — more than two years late, surfacing only during discovery. The demolition payment arrived three days past the policy's post-appraisal deadline. A six-month extension request was denied. The couple never rebuilt and missed the endorsement's two-year completion window.

The ruling cut both ways

Here's the part that keeps this honest: Nationwide won three breach-of-contract theories outright. The court said the low initial estimate, the three-day demolition delay, and the cured inflation-protection shortfall were none of them a material breach once later payments made the couple whole. Carriers that fix their mistakes get credit for it.

But the court reversed on two points, and those are the ones that matter for your job:

The withheld $16,777.40. The endorsement language was ambiguous about when that amount was payable — and Nationwide's own adjuster testified she could not identify a reason it hadn't been paid. That is a documentation failure, plain and simple.

The missed deadline. The court found genuine factual disputes over whether the insurer's own conduct excused the couple from the two-year rebuild window: instructions not to repair without approval, an 18-month delay approving the foundation work, and a resulting window of fewer than 90 days to demolish and rebuild — during documented pandemic-era shortages. A jury gets to decide whether those delays, taken together, made the deadline unmeetable.

The court also reversed summary judgment on the bad-faith claim — punitive damages are back in play — and reversed the striking of the couple's claims-handling expert. The case returns to the trial court.

What this means in the field

Five practical takeaways, no editorializing:

1. Get "wait for approval" instructions in writing. In this case, the insurer's instructions not to repair without approval became evidence for the homeowner. If a carrier tells you or your customer to hold, document it — dated, named, in writing. That paper trail runs in whichever direction the facts point.
2. Log approval delays contemporaneously. The 18-month foundation-approval delay was central to the court's reasoning. Your daily logs, dated photos, and timestamped correspondence are the raw material courts use to reconstruct who caused what delay. If you aren't logging, you're guessing later.
3. Appraisal is a real tool. The $330,000 gap between the initial adjustment and the appraisal panel's number speaks for itself. When a scope comes in light, appraisal isn't escalation — it's the mechanism the policy provides.
4. Learn the endorsement mechanics. The fight over the $16,777.40 turned on ambiguous replacement-cost endorsement language about when amounts become payable. If you write supplements, you need to understand how these endorsements actually release money — because the adjuster's inability to explain the holdup is what sank Nationwide on that point.
5. Cured mistakes were forgiven. The court explicitly credited Nationwide for the shortfalls it fixed. Documentation and correction protect carriers, too. Keep your own house clean — scope it right, fix it fast when you don't, and write everything down.

The bottom line

The test this ruling applies is simple: who caused the delay? Contractors sit in the middle of that question on almost every large loss. The crews that win the argument — with carriers, with customers, in court if it ever gets there — are the ones whose documentation answers it.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney for guidance on specific claims or disputes.