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I was appointed by the court as the liaison coverage counsel for the putative class members in the collapse of the Champlain Towers South. This week, a team of extraordinarily skilled lawyers that I have been working with filed an amended complaint explaining how we currently believe this catastrophe happened. It is a very sad matter. It is hard to be witness to the horrible aftermath the victims and their families live with.…
Continue Reading The Champlain Towers Collapse Catastrophe and Purchasing the Right Insurance

United Policyholders is the one organization that policyholders can count on to stand up and comment on what insurance companies are trying to push through departments of insurance. United Policyholders Sandy Watts and I will be presenting today about insurance gaps created in new language found in insurance policies. One policy form we will be talking about is the one State Farm is pushing for approval in the California Department of Insurance.…
Continue Reading State Farm New Policy Filing In California Should Be Concerning To All In the Property Insurance Industry—An Example Is the New Appraisal Language

The Big I calls the “where you reside” language found in ISO standard language the “catastrophic homeowners policy exclusion.”1 On its website, it states:…
Continue Reading “Residence Premises” and “Where You Reside” Insurance Coverage Gaps—The Killer Exclusion That Is Not Listed As An Exclusion: Part Two

A number of questions posed by coverage practitioners recently spiked about residency requirements found in the vast majority of standard homeowners forms. The spike and questions were the result of a particular Order denying a summary judgement.1 The case is still pending in Florida with trial set August 2, 2021. While that case is relatively new, the policy language which acts as a killer exclusion causing a hidden insurance coverage gap has been a topic of great controversy in the insurance industry for well over a decade. An article was published in an agents’ education journal twenty years ago about the “where you reside” wording found in homeowners insurance policies.…
Continue Reading “Residence Premises” and “Where You Reside” Insurance Coverage Gaps—The Killer Exclusion That Is Not Listed As An Exclusion: Part One

A few years ago, my wife gave me a watch for my birthday. It is a simple modest three-hand Bulova and I was ecstatic. It was the best gift I ever received. It was slim and elegant and would be a perfect addition to my attire in my budding legal career. What I didn’t know then is how consumed by the world of watches I would become. I was so intrigued by that little watch that within the coming years I would buy and trade several watches from Tag Heuer to the famous Swiss brand with the 5-pointed crown. Then arose the problem, suddenly I had a few uninsured pieces of jewelry.…
Continue Reading Watch Your Coverage

The comments, posts, and articles about whether property insurance coverage benefits will exist are all over the place on the internet. An example of two opposing views come from Georgia’s Insurance Commissioner versus the advice from United Policyholders.…
Continue Reading Coronavirus Insurance Coverage Update—United Policyholders Says Do Not Give Up While Georgia Insurance Commissioner Suggests Do Not Waste Your Time

As a follow up to the Insurance Protection Gaps webinar mentioned in yesterday‘s post, Water Loss From Toilet Overflow Is Covered Despite State Farm Denial, Professor James Hilliard of Temple University’s Department of Risk, Insurance, and Healthcare Management provided a basic outline and his presentation is somewhat similar to Professor Jay Feinman’s much more detailed work on the matter.…
Continue Reading Fighting Insurance Coverage Protection Gaps Is Sound Public Policy

The Mid-Atlantic Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (MAPIA) held a meeting this past week with about thirty-five public adjusters in attendance. President Paul Yemm, yours truly, Holly Soffer, and Tony DiUlio are pictured above. Soffer and Diulio gave a wonderful insurance gaps presentation that was highlighted Tony DiUlio’s discussion of a water loss that resulted in a bad faith verdict against State Farm.…
Continue Reading Water Loss From Toilet Overflow Is Covered Despite State Farm Denial

On October 2, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled that a dispute between an insurance company and its policyholder should proceed to appraisal despite insurance company’s allegations that it had discovered what it called evidence of fraud.…
Continue Reading An Insurer’s Potential Fraud Claim Against Insured Was “No Reason to Stop or Stay Appraisal,” Court Rules