Insurance appraisal in District of Columbia
We found no District of Columbia statute or regulation that sets an appraisal procedure, so your policy controls the steps. The case law matters more than the clause. The D.C. Court of Appeals has said appraisal fixes the amount of loss and nothing else, and federal courts in D.C. have held that a one-year suit clause keeps running while appraisal is being sought. Read your Appraisal condition and your suit deadline together.
At a glance
- Name an appraiser
- Set by your policy. The D.C. decisions we read quote clauses that call for a competent and impartial (or disinterested) appraiser but do not quote a day count, so check your clause.
- Choose an umpire
- The two appraisers choose the umpire. The number of days comes from your policy.
- If they cannot agree
- In the Allstate and Erie policies in two D.C. federal cases, a party could ask a court to pick the umpire if the appraisers could not agree. Check which court your policy names.
- Does appraisal pause the deadline to sue?
- Do not count on it. We found no D.C. statute that pauses a policy's suit deadline for appraisal, and two federal decisions in D.C. (Des Longchamps v. Allstate, 2015; Gardner v. Erie, 2022) held one-year suit clauses barred appraisal and umpire suits filed late. D.C.'s general contract limit is three years (D.C. Code 12-301(7)), but D.C. courts enforce shorter policy periods.
- Who may serve
- We found no D.C. license for serving on an appraisal panel. D.C. does license public insurance adjusters (D.C. Code 31-1631.03), and the policy usually asks for an appraiser who is impartial or disinterested. More below
Deadlines in District of Columbia
The clock
- Day 0Written demandEither party, in writing
- By agreementAppraisers namedNo fixed day count
- By agreementUmpire chosenBy agreement, or a court appoints
- On siteInspectionBoth estimates, line by line
- The awardAward signedAny two of three
- After the awardPaymentPer policy and state rules
Appraisal starts with a written demand under the Appraisal condition of your policy. In the policies quoted in D.C. court decisions, each side picks a competent and impartial appraiser, the appraisers pick a competent and impartial umpire, and the amount that any two of the three agree on sets the amount of loss. If the appraisers cannot agree on an umpire, the Allstate and Erie forms in those cases let a party ask a court to pick one. Those decisions do not quote day counts, and D.C. has no statute that supplies them, so the numbers in your policy are the ones that count.
Then look at your suit clause. The policies in the D.C. cases required suit within one year after the loss, and the 1967 Roumel policy said twelve months. Courts held that appraisal did not stop those clocks. In Des Longchamps the owner demanded appraisal the day before the one-year mark and asked a court for an umpire a few months after it. Send the demand in a way that proves delivery, keep a copy, and write down the date of loss and your suit deadline before you do anything else.
What the panel decides
Amount of loss only
The D.C. Court of Appeals spoke to this in Roumel v. Niagara Fire Insurance Co. (1967). It described appraisement as merely a method of ascertaining the amount of loss or damage, one that does not determine other issues such as liability and coverage. The clauses in the later D.C. cases also ask the panel to set the amount of loss. We did not find a D.C. appellate decision on how far a panel may go on cause of damage or scope of repair. The wording of your clause, and what is actually in dispute, decide how much the panel can reach.
Who may serve
No D.C. statute we found sets who may serve as an appraiser or umpire. The test is the policy's wording. The 1967 Roumel policy asked for a competent and disinterested appraiser, and the Allstate and Erie forms in the later federal cases asked for competent and impartial appraisers and an impartial umpire. In Des Longchamps the insurer questioned the impartiality of the owner's proposed appraiser, and the appraisers there signed a declaration that they would act with strict impartiality and had no interest in the property or the insurance. The court did not decide whether either appraiser qualified. We found no D.C. decision on whether an appraiser paid a share of the award qualifies. Courts elsewhere have enforced those words against appraisers with a stake in the outcome, such as the Florida Supreme Court in Parrish v. State Farm and the Colorado Supreme Court in Dakota Station II, but those are other states' decisions, not D.C. law. Separately, D.C. requires a license to act as a public insurance adjuster, defined to include a person who, for compensation, negotiates or settles a first-party property claim on behalf of an insured (D.C. Code 31-1631.02 and 31-1631.03). We found no D.C. authority on whether serving as a party-appointed appraiser falls inside that definition.
The award
Under the common form, the amount agreed by any two of the three is the amount of loss. The parties in Des Longchamps described their policy that way. Roumel calls an award conclusive proof of the damages, while the insured's right to sue stays on the policy rather than on the award itself. That is a 1967 statement, and your clause may say more. We did not find a D.C. statute or appellate decision that lists the grounds for setting a property appraisal award aside. D.C. has a Revised Uniform Arbitration Act with a 90-day limit to move to vacate an arbitration award (D.C. Code 16-4423(c)), but we found nothing saying it governs a property appraisal, so we do not assume it does. Anyone with a concern about an award should raise it promptly.
Points particular to District of Columbia
The suit deadline is the main trap. In Roumel (D.C. 1967) the policy required suit within twelve months of the loss. The insurer demanded appraisal, then refused to go on after the owners changed the agreement, and the owners waited nearly three years to sue. The Court of Appeals held that once appraisal is demanded the "no action" clause makes it a condition of suing, but that the only effect of the insurer's refusal was that the owners could sue at once. They did not, and the suit was late. In Des Longchamps v. Allstate (D.D.C. 2015) a suit to appoint an umpire, filed after the one-year deadline, was barred, because the policy said either party "may" demand appraisal and so appraisal talks did not excuse a late suit. In Gardner v. Erie (D.D.C. 2022) a suit to compel appraisal or appoint an umpire, filed nearly three years after a sewer backup, was dismissed because nothing in the appraisal clause overrode the one-year suit clause.
Waiver and estoppel are narrow. The D.C. Court of Appeals has said an insurer is generally not treated as waiving a contractual limitations period unless it has conceded liability and some settlement discussion has occurred, and estoppel takes something that amounts to an affirmative inducement to delay suing (Bailey v. Greenberg, 1986). Roumel adds that an insurer that prolongs negotiations until the period passes would toll it, though later cases call that statement dictum. In a non-precedential 2026 judgment in a burst-pipe case, Daramy-Andrews v. Liberty Insurance (D.C. Cir. April 9, 2026), the court applied those rules and affirmed dismissal of claims filed three years after the loss under a one-year clause. It was not an appraisal case. A letter saying the claim investigation was suspended did not suspend the suit clause.
D.C.'s general limit for a suit on a contract is three years (D.C. Code 12-301(7)). Do not assume you have it. The D.C. decisions above enforced one-year and twelve-month periods written into policies. Check your suit clause first and count from the date of loss.
Title 31, chapter 25 of the D.C. Code is titled "Fire, Casualty, and Marine Insurance." It covers the powers of the Commissioner of the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking, including filing and approval of policy forms (31-2502.27). We found nothing in it that sets an appraisal procedure or a standard fire policy form, and we found no DISB bulletin or regulation on appraisal.
D.C. has an unfair claim settlement practices statute, D.C. Code 31-2231.17. It prohibits, when done often enough to be a general business practice, things like failing to acknowledge and act reasonably promptly on claim communications and failing to affirm or deny coverage within a reasonable time after proof of loss. The Commissioner enforces it. Complaints about claim handling can go to the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking.
Common losses in District of Columbia
Each one links back to how we look at that kind of loss.
Questions
Does my D.C. homeowners policy have an appraisal clause?
Most property policies do, but we found no D.C. statute that writes the clause into law, so the wording is whatever your policy says. Look in the Conditions section under the heading Appraisal.
How long do we have to name an appraiser in D.C.?
Your policy sets it. The D.C. decisions we read quote clauses that call for competent and impartial appraisers but do not give a day count. Read your own clause and count from the day you received the written demand.
Who chooses the umpire if the appraisers cannot agree?
The appraisers choose the umpire. In the Allstate and Erie policies in two D.C. federal cases, a party could ask a court to pick one if they could not agree. Your policy may differ, so check which court it names.
Can the appraisers decide whether my loss is covered in D.C.?
No. The D.C. Court of Appeals said in Roumel (1967) that appraisal only ascertains the amount of loss and does not determine liability or coverage. Coverage is a question for a court.
Does demanding appraisal pause the deadline to sue in D.C.?
Do not assume it does. We found no D.C. rule that says so, and federal courts in D.C. have held that a one-year suit clause barred suits over appraisal and umpire filed late. Note your suit deadline before you demand appraisal.
Do appraisers need a license in D.C.?
We found no D.C. license for serving on an appraisal panel. D.C. does license public insurance adjusters, and we found no authority on whether a party-appointed appraiser falls under that. The policy usually asks for an appraiser who is impartial or disinterested.
Before you decide anything
Has a claim in District of Columbia stalled on the number?
Tell us what happened and where. We'll read the policy and tell you plainly whether appraisal fits.
When you write to us
- We read the policy, the estimates on both sides and the letters that came with them.
- We tell you plainly whether appraisal fits the disagreement, and if it doesn't, who can help.
- If it fits, we confirm next steps in writing before anything starts.
Reviewed against the sources listed, October 2026. General information, not legal advice.