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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

Last week, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Buckley Towers Condo., Inc. v. QBE Insurance Corp., No. 09-13247, 2010 WL 3551609 (11th Cir. Sept. 14, 2010). The appeal and opinion dealt mostly with actual cash value (ACV) versus replacement cost value (RCV) damages, as well as law and ordinance damages and prejudgment interest. In a nutshell, actual cash value damages cover the cost of replacing the damaged property, minus depreciation, and replacement cost value damages cover the actual cost expended to replace the property, up to the policy limits. Michelle Claverol explained ACV and RCV calculations in much greater detail in her posts on the Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog titled, Understanding Replacement Cost Coverage: Valuation Issues in Florida, Part 5, and Replacement Cost Value Coverage After a Claim Denial: Florida Valuation Issues, Part 6.Continue Reading Prevention of Performance with Replacement Cost Value

I wanted to continue a discussion that Jeremy Tyler initiated last week in his blog post, Mandatory Arbitration for Disputes Between Unit Owners and Condominium Associations. Jeremy introduced a recent case, Gomez v. Lakes of Carriage Hills Condo. Assoc., Inc., — So. 3d —, 35 Fla. L. Weekly D1822 (4th DCA August 11, 2010), which concerned the question of whether claims brought by unit owners against the association and various members of its board of directors must first be pursued through non-binding arbitration.  Jeremy’s post also presented an excellent analysis of certain “disputes” that by Florida Statute §718.1255 must first be submitted to non-binding arbitration before a lawsuit may be filed.Continue Reading Arbitration for Certain Disputes Between Unit Owners and Condominium Associations Is Not Mandatory