Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog : Florida Insurance Lawyer & Attorney : Merlin Law Group Law Firm : Tampa, Houston, Coral Gables, Gulfport

Playing before, and up to, an insurance industry crowd, former Florida governor Jeb Bush lobbed criticism at a solution to a problem he helped create. The problem is high insurance premiums and Florida's vulnerability to financial calamity if confronted with a Katrina type of event. It seems ironic that he can make money giving speeches about a mess he let come about. It seems even more ironic that the group he gave the speech to, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (State Farm is a mutual insurance company), would give its "State Legislator of the Year" award to one of the most prolific anti-consumer legislators in Florida, Don Brown.Let's set the record straight, the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 occurred while Jeb Bush was the Governor of Florida. He and the leadership of Florida allowed insurance companies to cancel and non-renew insurance policies at an escalating rate prior to Hurricane Charley.

 

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The Merlin Law Group has settled the claims of 103 State Farm policyholders.  While the terms of the individual settlements and total amount paid by State Farm are confidential, attorney Chip Merlin noted that each settlement amount was negotiated on a case-by-case basis and according to each client's unique situation."This was not a 'cents on the dollar received by all' negotiation," said Merlin.   "An enormous amount of work went into this negotiation which proves that every policyholder can get what they deserve as long as each case is approached individually."  The members of the Mississippi Merlin Law Group team include Chip Merlin, William Weatherly, Randy Santa Cruz, Deborah Trotter, and Tina Nicholson.  They worked tirelesly conducting 119 depositions regarding State Farm and filing over 50 litigated lawsuits against the insurer so far on behalf of Mississippi policyholders. Despite this tremendous success Merlin cautions "those with unresolved claims to be mindful of Mississippi's Statute of Limitations which will run out at the next anniversary of Hurricane Katrina." Media coverage about the settlement may be found at:

• MSNBC (Michael Kunzelman, Associated Press)
• Sun Herald (Anita Lee)
• Clarion Ledger (Chris Joyner)
• WLOX-TV (The News for South Mississippi) report by Danielle Thomas

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Our firm filed an amicus brief in this case on behalf of Untied Policyholders. We have followed this case quite closely and I, along with several of our attorneys, decided to attend the oral arguments on Thursday, September 6th. Watching and listening to law being argued is a difficult task when you are used to being a player rather than a spectator. I found myself shaking my head and muttering. It is a grueling exercise to not answer questions when you have the feeling that the participants, especially the jurists, do not fully understand the law of a very specialized area with so much at stake.

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In their rationale for upholding Judge Senter's verdict, the 5th Circuit provides a less than stellar (okay really absurd) example of non-coverage that virtually all insurance companies issuing an all-risk policy would heretofore pay. After finding that the anti-concurrent causation language was not ambiguous, Judge Edith Jones went too far and provided the following (see full decision here):

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