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

In a recent case, the Florida's Third District Court of Appeals resolved a decade old controversy related to boat slips of a condominium association damaged by Hurricane Irene in 1999. The Court noted that the dispute had been ongoing for such a large amount of time that the National Weather Service re-circulated the name Irene, which just recently affected many people along the East Coast of the United States.

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The modern day condominium involves a unique combination of real property rights between the condominium association and individual unit owners. The property interests are separate but related and can lead to some interesting questions regarding the rights and responsibilities of the parties that own each particular interest.

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After damage has occurred, the claims process often takes more time than expected. Unfortunately, while this is not always avoidable, delay in reconstruction can cause further losses in rent and keep people out of their homes for longer than necessary.

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"Custom in law is the established pattern of behavior that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting.” Wikipedia. Recently, the Federal Middle District Court in Florida decided a discovery dispute between a condominium association and its insurer, Nationwide, in the case Pepperwood of Naples Condo. Ass’n., Inc. v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co., No. 2:10-cv-753, 2011 WL 3841557 (M.D. Fla. August 28, 2011). Discovery disputes arise when one party asks another to produce information, but the other party coes not comply. It is common for insurers to refuse to produce claim file materials, claiming the documents are protected by certain privileges and citing other objections. The Pepperwood case involved a situation where the condominium association sued Nationwide for bad faith damages for not promptly paying all insurance proceeds from the 2004 hurricane damages and forcing it to incur additional expenses in the claim presentation through an appraisal process.

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On May 17 of this year, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law Senate Bill 408, which, among other things, shortened the statute of limitations for property insurance claims in Florida to five years from the date of the loss. Under the earlier Florida Statutes § 95.11 and § 95.031, the statute of limitations did not expire until five years after a property insurer had breached the insurance policy. The Senate Bill 408 change came roughly five and a half years after Hurricane Wilma destroyed an enormous amount of Florida property, and the change left many questioning whether they could still seek redress for these claims.

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While some areas sustained substantial wind damages from Hurricane Irene, a large portion of the losses are related to floods caused by the storm. Anyone insured through the National Flood Insurance Program should read their policies carefully and pay close attention to the time requirements mandated in the provisions.

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