The Minnesota Supreme Court issued an opinion last month
addressing, in living color, an insurer's obligation to match
replacement materials after homes suffered storm damage. The
opinion in Cedar Bluff Townhome Condominium Association, Inc.
v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company, --N.W.2d--, No.
A13-0124, 2014 WL 7156914 (Minn. Dec. 17, 2014) stemmed from a hail
storm in October 2011 that damaged buildings in the Cedar Bluff
townhome neighborhood.
The roofs on all 20 of the buildings required replacement, and
at least one siding panel on each building sustained damage from
hail. At the time of the storm the siding was more than a decade
old, and the color had faded. Replacement panels were available
with the same specifications, but they were not available in the
same color. The policy that Cedar Bluff had with American Family
(Am Fam) required payment for "direct physical loss or
damage" to covered property resulting from a covered cause of
loss. Furthermore,
