In The Yacht Club on the Intracoastal Condo. Ass’n. v. Lexington Ins. Co., – Fed.Appx. –, 2015 WL 106862, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 293 (11h Cir., Jan. 8, 2015), a unanimous panel of the Eleventh Circuit recently held that a Florida condominium association’s multi-million claim for extensive Hurricane Wilma damage was barred because the insured failed to give notice of loss for fully 55 months. The policyholder’s arguments that it was initially unaware that the damage exceeded the deductible and that it had created an issue of fact with respect to whether the presumption of prejudice had been rebutted because both parties were ultimately able to put up expert evidence of causation were unavailing. The Yacht Club had 380 units…
Monthly Archives: January 2015
Late Notice Held to Bar a $6,000,000 Hurricane Wilma Claim in Florida
Tagged with: Florida
Posted in Conditions, Hurricane, Hurricane Wilma, Investigation, Notice, Prejudice
Posted in Conditions, Hurricane, Hurricane Wilma, Investigation, Notice, Prejudice
If You Post It, Your Opponent Can Probably Discover It
In March we ran a post on how important videos, photographs, and statements on social media sites can be when investigating a property loss. A picture is literally worth a thousand words. Earlier this month, a Florida court explained that such material is also discoverable – even in situations where the policyholder employs privacy settings that prevent the general public from having access to his or her account – because the user’s privacy interest in such a site is “minimal, if any.” Nucci v. Target Corp., – So.3d –, 2015 WL 71726, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 153 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App., Jan. 7, 2015) involved a slip-and-fall, but it applies with equal force to discovery in a first-party matter. Maria Nucci filed a…
Tagged with: Facebook, Florida, Privacy, Social Media
Posted in Discovery, Investigation, Reasonable Expectations
Posted in Discovery, Investigation, Reasonable Expectations
Anti-Sequential Causation Clause Upheld in Hurricane Irene Case in New Jersey
In Ashrit Realty, LLC v. Tower National Ins. Co., 2015 WL 248490, 2015 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 107 (N.J.Super.Ct., App.Div., Jan. 20, 2015), New Jersey’s Appellate Division held that an anti-concurrent/anti-sequential causation clause precluded coverage for a Hurricane Irene loss. A covered peril (hidden decay) led to an excluded peril (soil erosion), bringing down part of the insured’s structure. As the court explained, such a provision “excludes coverage in situations where a covered event and an excluded event contribute, concurrently or sequentially, to a single loss.” While the New Jersey Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on anti-concurrent/anti-sequential causation clauses, the case adds to growing body of lower court decisions holding or suggesting that such provisions are valid and…
Tagged with: Anti-Sequential Causation, New Jersey
Posted in Anti-Concurrent Causation, Causation, Collapse, Hurricane, Hurricane Irene, Seepage or Leakage
Posted in Anti-Concurrent Causation, Causation, Collapse, Hurricane, Hurricane Irene, Seepage or Leakage
