Condominium Insurance Law : Condo Insurance Lawyers & Attorneys : Merlin Law Group Law Firm : Tampa, Houston, Coral Gables & West Palm Beach

Coinsurance is a provision in the insurance industry which allows an insurance company and its policyholder to potentially apportion between them any loss covered by the policy. This is usually according to a fixed percentage of the value for which the property is insured. In property insurance policies, the coinsurance clause provides that property must be insured for a specific percentage, usually 80% to 100% of its value. This means that the insurance company can shift part of the risk of loss back to the policyholder if the property is not insured to a certain ratio of the value of the property at the time of a loss. If the value of the property times the coinsurance percentage is greater than the limit of insurance for the property, then the insurer may apply a coinsurance “penalty” and may not pay the full value of that loss. Associations and all policyholders should periodically review their policies to determine if they are subject to a coinsurance percentage and to ensure that they are adequately insured for the value of their property according to any coinsurance percentage. This “penalty” can be huge for associations suffering a large loss in the event of a large catastrophe like a hurricane.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Yesterday, Chip Merlin wrote on the Property Insurance Coverage Law blog about a recent Order I received. The ruling dealt with the conditions precedent to filing a bad faith case in the State of Florida. As I have discussed before, first party bad faith in Florida has traditionally centered around Florida Statute §624.155 and not a common law right.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Last week on the Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog, I wrote about removal of lawsuits from state to federal court. The possibility that an insurance carrier defendant will remove a lawsuit filed by a condominium association is much greater than that for the average homeowner. One reason is because many condominium associations get insurance from out of state carriers, and another is because property losses to a condominium association will typically be larger than that of the average homeowner.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Just last week, the Third District Court of Appeals issued another ruling involving entitlement to appraisal in Citizens Property Insurance Corp., v. Mango Hill Condo. Association 12, Inc., No. 3D10-2014 (Fla. 3d DCA February 9, 2011). The Third District has been busy the last couple of months with rulings on the issue of appraisal, and one carrier in particular seems to be filing many of the appeals. I wanted to introduce the recent ruling, and there will likely be some follow up discussion in the weeks to come.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Most condominium associations are constantly working on their buildings and property. General maintenance, landscaping, cleaning, and minor repairs are among some of the most time consuming daily tasks. While these repairs may seem minor to many, thoroughly documenting major repairs can be very important during a subsequent insurance claim.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In my last condominium blog post, I discussed a recent case from Florida in which a condominium unit owner sued a condominium association for allegedly failing to maintain and repair the condominium roof, which resulted in damage to the unit owner’s property. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently published an opinion on a similar case out of Louisiana, in which a condominium unit owner sued a condominium association for failure to procure adequate flood insurance and failure to pursue an insurance claim on the unit owner’s behalf.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link