Minnesota Supreme Court holds a fact finder may consider embedded-labor-cost depreciation, among other factors, when determining the “actual cash value” of damaged property under the Broad Evidence Rule.

In reformulating and answering a certified question from Federal District Court for the District of Minnesota, the Minnesota Supreme Court held this week in Wilcox v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., A15-0724, 2016 WL 516707, that, when a homeowner's insurance policy does not define the term “actual cash value,” it is for the trier of fact to determine whether labor costs embedded in the cost of repairing or replacing damaged property are depreciable for the purpose of calculating the “actual cash value” of a covered loss.  Read more here.