Q: What doctrine governs a partial insurance car repair coverage despite the repair facility's procedure to do it entirely?
My truck was damaged by a collision with a deer. StateFarm paid to repair the truck. StateFarm only paid 1/4 of the cost of reapplying a dealer-installed paint sealant. The "StateFarm recommended" repair facility will not apply the paint sealant to any car partially. Applying the paint sealant to parts of a car and not the entire car will make it appear mottled and the paint will not appear uniform. I want StateFarm to pay for the complete paint Sealant reapplication. The cost is $1600 and they gave me only $400 to get it performed.
I want to know what legal doctrine governs a case such as this, where one side wants to pay a partial recovery even if it does not make the other party whole.
A: If State Farm is your own insurance company, you can sue them for breach of contract. If State Farm is the insurance company for the other driver who was negligent, you can sue the other driver for the money. Note that if you were injured, you must bring all claims in a single cause of action and you cannot split your cause of action.
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