Public adjusters in Florida have routinely appointed themselves as appraisers for their policyholder clients. This generally saves the policyholder money and provides a person already familiar with the loss and ready to move the appraisal process along. However, based on the trend and discussion in legal court cases, it appears that this practice of self-appointment will be a thing of the past.
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The Florida Third District Court of Appeal recently found that when a policyholder failed to substantially comply with a post-loss obligation, the insurance company is presumed to have been prejudiced by the breach.1 The burden then shifts to the policyholder to show that the failure to comply with a post-loss obligation did not prejudice the insurance company. The question remains: What have courts found to satisfy a policyholder’s burden of showing that reporting a claim late did not prejudice the insurance company?
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A judge agreed with my view posted in, Did Florida Mistakenly Place an Insurer Into Insolvency, Try to Disqualify the Law Firm That Pointed Out the Mistake and Harm 91,000 Policyholders By Quick and Unnecessary Non-Renewals?
The Florida Department of Financial Services and the Office of Insurance simply made a mess of Florida Specialty Insurance Company’s financial problems and cancellation of policies.
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The propriety of Florida Specialty Insurance Company’s insolvency should be investigated by the media and other Florida leaders. The Florida Department of Financial Services filed what appears to be a spurious motion to disqualify a very reputable insurance company law firm, Cozen O’Connor, that filed a motion, which if correct, shows that a simple accounting error lead to a false claim that Florida Specialty Insurance Company was insolvent.
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In Florida, if an insured fails to meet a post-loss obligation, is it a complete bar to recovery? In a recent decision, the Third District Court of Appeal certified conflict with the Fourth District Court of Appeal and held that an insurer must be prejudiced by the insured’s non-compliance with a post-loss obligation in order for the insured to forfeit coverage.
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Before law school, I worked for nearly two years at the Florida Division of Emergency Management. During major events, I served on the State Emergency Response Team at the emergency operations center in Tallahassee. With Hurricane Dorian projected to impact Florida, I wanted to take a moment to provide you some of the insights that I learned as a former member of Florida’s emergency management team.
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A newspaper article, 10 months After Hurricane Michael, Florida Still Doesn’t Know Why So Many Insurance Claims are Open,1 noted the slow-moving Hurricane Michael insurance claims. The title is telling because it indicates Florida insurance officials do not know why the delays are happening.
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Chomp, Chomp!
Insurance Policies are designed to cover sudden and accidental loss and damage. Mary Wischusen, 77, believed that she had a suffered a sudden and accidental act of nature and that coverage would be afforded when a gator came crashing into her kitchen. This 11-foot alligator was not her domestic pet or a planned guest, but her insurance company has denied the claim.
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Picking the right expert has never been more important when fighting an insurance company that has wrongfully denied an insurance claim. The rule for expert admissibility has just changed in Florida and the same concerns about experts apply everywhere.
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A septic system back-up into a home can be a rotten situation for a homeowner, and depending on the extent of the back-up, can cause widespread damage throughout the home. When researching coverage for septic system back-ups I was surprised by the number of Florida cases addressing this very issue.
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