For some reason, one of my favorite non-insurance-related classes in law school was none other than constitutional law. Although the field of constitutional law is one that I enjoy reading and learning about, it is not often that first-party property insurance overlaps with constitutional law issues.
Continue Reading Citizens Property Insurance Immunity from Bad Faith Insurance Violations and the State Action Doctrine
A recent Florida case shows why it is important to obtain information from those doing the repair and mitigation efforts following a loss.1 This is now a very common claims scenario where the home or business sustains water damage following a storm, and the insurance company obtains an engineering report that says the storm did not cause the water intrusion.
Continue Reading Contractor Testimony About Wind Causing Damage Allowing Rain to Enter a Building Is Important
Nancy Dominguez of the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters provided a little public records Christmas gift. The Citizens Managed Network Vendor Program Best Claims Practice & Estimating Guidelines are attached as exhibit B to the Contractor Managed Repair Program contract between Citizens Property Insurance and Crawford & Company.
Continue Reading A Christmas Present—Citizens Managed Network Vendor Program Best Claims Practices & Estimating Guidelines
The Citizens Property Insurance claims management provided a number of reports to the Citizens Board of Governors yesterday. For readers of this blog and policyholders who want to know what Citizens thinks of its claims handling, I suggest that you read the various reports which I have attached to this post.1
Continue Reading Is Citizens Property Insurance Giving You a Hard Time with Your Insurance Claim? Here Is Why, Based on Statistics Provided by Citizens Claims Management
I was publicly debating at an appraisal conference in Denver with insurance defense lawyer Steve Badger about various matters regarding appraisals. I answered a question posed that if new evidence came up to the insured’s selected appraiser which indicated that the prior payment by the insurance company was more than enough and the insurance carrier clearly overpaid, did the insured’s appraiser have to agree to an value even lower than what was previously paid?
Continue Reading Do Insurance Companies Select Appraisers Based on Lowered Awards to Their Customers?
The Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether foreseeable consequential damages are recoverable when an insurer breaches its contract on Tuesday.1 Law360 is a great publication to keep abreast of the newest legal issues involving insurance and this is how it described the upcoming case:1
Continue Reading Are Foreseeable Consequential Damages for Breach of a Property Insurance Contract Recoverable?
Your Citizens insurance policy may have recently implemented a $10,000.00 water damage limit, which can be negated only if you agree to allow Citizens’ preferred contractor repair your damaged property. But is Citizens authorized to make this request?
Continue Reading Citizens Insurance: Can They Legally Repair Your Property?
In the legal profession we sometimes use the term “res ipsa loquitur”—Latin for "the thing speaks for itself." With that in mind, take a look at the article, All’s fair? Scott Link changes sides after $5M Citizens superlawyer pay,1 discussing the fact that the top lawyer for Citizens is leaving to represent policyholders.
I was surprised when I first saw the Sun-Sentinel article, Citizens files request for 72-hour deadline to report loss. The more I read and thought about the article the angrier I became. As I have written in the past, Florida policyholders continue to pay the highest property insurance rates in the country despite the fact that no serious hurricane has hit the state in years.1
Continue Reading Citizens Property Insurance Attempts to Limit its Coverage for Water Damage
Citizens Property Insurance Company should devote more time and resources to education, training, and properly and promptly handling property insurance damage claims instead of hiring teams of lawyers “experts”. Citizens wants to avoid paying for covered damages in the homeowners policies by any means necessary. In related news, for three years, Citizens has been depopulating. Sending and shipping off the policyholders to other “brand new” and “financially new” insurance companies so it won’t be so exposed to so many homes when a hurricane hits. But now Citizens says it doesn’t have enough money in the bank and it is raising rates again.
Continue Reading Citizens Property Insurance Corporation Fails Floridians