Panel seeks arbitrator to settle claim

The county and insurance company are about $200,000 apart.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners have filed a complaint in common pleas court asking that an insurance company select an arbitrator to settle the county's claim from a 2003 flood at the 911 center in Howland.
The cost of replacing telephone, radio and computer systems and renovating the building was $1.4 million. The county had insured the building for $1 million. The county borrowed $1.5 million for the renovations and equipment.
The suit says United National Insurance Co. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., was notified a year ago of the county's intent to invoke the arbitration provision of its insurance policy, but United National has not identified an arbitrator.
The county, therefore, asks that the court appoint one. The suit is assigned to Judge John Stuard.
In a March 8 letter attached to the filing, a lawyer representing the county wrote to an insurance representative that the county had picked William L. Hawley of Harrington, Hoppe & amp; Mitchell of Warren as its arbitrator.
What's in dispute
The letter says the commissioners rejected the insurance company's offer to settle the claim for $440,000. The county would not settle for less than $662,000, it said. That was the amount of liability left after a $50,000 deductible and $138,000 in payments already made by the insurance company. That money was used to replace soggy drywall and carpets and renovate the basement dispatch center.
The company has resisted paying money to replace computer, phone and radio equipment, saying the equipment could have been rehabilitated instead of replaced.
runyan@vindy.com