APPELLATE COURT OPINIONS

In this breach of contract case, David Wayne Gurien (“Plaintiff”) filed suit against Allstate Insurance Company (“Defendant”) for Defendant’s failure to compensate him for the theft of his automobile pursuant to the terms of the insurance contract that he had with the Defendant. The trial court awarded Plaintiff $18,300.00 in compensatory damages and $4,575.00 for the Defendant’s bad faith refusal to pay under the terms of the insurance contract. A motion to alter or amend resulted in an adjustment of compensatory damages to $17,300.00 to account for the deductible. The issues on appeal relate only to the award of the bad faith penalty.
 

This appeal involves a constitutional challenge by the Mall of Memphis  Associates (the Mall) to an increase in its property value by the Assessor of Property for Shelby County, Tennessee (the Assessor). The respondents, Tennessee State Board of Equalization (the Board) and Rita C. Clark,1 the Assessor, appeal the judgment of the chancery court voiding an increase in the property assessment for the petitioner, the Mall. The chancery court held that the Board’s reappraisal of the Mall’s property violated the Mall’s Fourteenth Amendment rights of equal protection under the United States Constitution.