Recently, the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court decision that denied attorney’s fees for a condominium association after it was successful in getting a suit against it dismissed. In Point East Four Condo. Corp., Inc. v. Zevuloni & Assoc., Inc., No. 4D09-3221, 2010 WL 4962853 (Fla. 4th DCA Dec. 8, 2010), a condominium association signed a contract with a public adjuster to handle its claim under an insurance policy. The contract provided that 10% of the amount recovered would be payable to the public adjuster. The contract also provided that the prevailing party in “any action” would be entitled to attorney’s fees, payable by the losing party.Continue Reading Attorney’s Fees Awarded in Lawsuit Filed Prematurely Against Condominium Association

In Can a Condo Association Get Out of an Insurance Settlement Agreement? Jeremy Tyler discussed a recent California case involving a homeowner association’s challenge of an insurance settlement agreement. He provided an analysis into the factors an association would need to consider when attempting to challenge an insurance settlement agreement. Challenging such a settlement, even if based upon fraudulent inducement, can be a difficult decision for an association to make since, as Jeremy discussed, they may have to return the payment they did receive from the insurer. The facts in the case of Village Northridge Homeowners Ass’n v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 237 P.3d 598 (Cal. 2010), where the policyholder alleged that the insurance company represented that the policy provided only $4.9 million worth of coverage when it in fact it provided $11.9 million, is very problematic and troubling.Continue Reading Florida Ethical Concerns Surrounding Insurance Settlement Agreements

Last week, the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal issued its ruling in Citizens Property Ins. Corp. v. Michigan Condo. Ass’n, No. 4D10-1794, 2010 WL 4226281 (Fla. 4th DCA Oct. 27, 2010). Michigan Condo. involved a condominium association that suffered damage to its property from Hurricane Wilma. The association timely notified its insurance company, Citizens, which investigated and estimated the amount of hurricane damage to be below the association’s insurance deductible. The association relied upon Citizens’ estimation, but later realized that damages were, in fact, in excess of the deductible, and reopened the claim. After Citizens had spent close to a year investigating the claim with no coverage decision, the association filed a Petition to Compel Appraisal in circuit court, based on the appraisal provision in the insurance policy. Citizens, in turn, denied coverage for the claim. Because there was a dispute in the amount of damage, with Citizens estimating the damage below the deductible and the association estimating the damage above the deductible, the circuit court ordered appraisal, and Citizens appealed.Continue Reading Must All Coverage Disputes Be Resolved Prior to a Court Order for Appraisal?

Although Florida has not seen a major hurricane touch its shores since Hurricane Wilma in 2005, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation may be raising rates on many of its policyholders. Earlier this month, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty approved additional rate increases that will affect thousands of insureds, including many condominium associations.Continue Reading Citizens Policyholders May See Rates Increase In 2011

Recently, the Third District Court of Appeals issued an opinion reversing a summary judgment that had been entered in favor of an insurer in a case involving a condominium association’s hurricane damage claim. I wanted to write about the case because it is an interesting ruling related to the topic of an insurer’s late notice of a “supplemental” claim defense, which is a topic that Jeremy Tyler and I have written about previously.Continue Reading Florida Appellate Court’s Recent Ruling Involving Insurer’s Late Notice of “Supplemental” Claim Defense

In a recent post on Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog, Jeremy Tyler discussed general issues with the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits. As Jeremy correctly pointed out, the statute of limitations is a legal deadline for filing a lawsuit. If a lawsuit is not filed before the statute of limitations has expired, the lawsuit may be barred, despite the merits of the action. Complying with the statute of limitations is extremely important, and any association that suffered damages from Hurricane Wilma should pay close attention to the status of its claim and immediately make decisions on how to best proceed.Continue Reading Associations Should Mark October 24, 2010 On The Calendar

As I discussed in a previous post, What Is Bad Faith And What Can Be Done About It, most states, including Florida, recognize that every contract contains an inherent obligation that each party will perform with the utmost good faith and fair dealing. While insurance policies may not seem like typical contracts, they are. Therefore, when an insurer performs its contractual duties, i.e., adjusting a loss and making a coverage determination, it has a common law contractual obligation to perform in good faith.Continue Reading Common Law Bad Faith Actions In Florida And Elsewhere

In Florida, the work of adjusting insurance claims engages the public trust. Policyholders, both commercial and residential, are generally not very sophisticated in insurance issues and therefore must rely on their insurance company to fairly and honestly adjust losses and timely pay the amounts due under the policy.Continue Reading What Is “Bad Faith” And What Can Be Done About It?

The answer to this question is a resounding, it depends. As is often the case in law, the answer to this question depends on such things as the particular language of the policy, the areas of inquiry requested by the insurer, and whether different individuals have knowledge regarding the areas of inquiry.Continue Reading How Many Examinations Under Oath Can An Insurer Demand Of An Association?

The other day, a colleague and I were discussing potential insurance issues that could come up when another major catastrophe hits Florida. The conversation led to the subject of insurance application errors, which reminded me of Corey Harris’ post from June 8 of this year. Corey’s post accurately describes the rule of law in Florida under Florida Statute § 627.409, that any misrepresentation on an insurance application in Florida, whether innocent or intentional, may void coverage.Continue Reading More on Errors in Insurance Applications