Blog Archives

Florida Enacts Broad Insurance Reforms Focusing on Bad Faith

Posted on March 29, 2023 by Chad A. Pasternack, John David Dickenson

From 2019 to 2022, the Florida Legislature enacted four separate property insurance reforms that sought to rein in abusive property insurance litigation fueled by one-way attorney’s fee shifting and an army of professional plaintiffs filing lawsuits pursuant to assignments of benefits. In its latest reform, the Legislature has shifted its focus to the broader insurance market and to tort reform. For many years now, Florida has significantly led the nation in tort costs per household. This metric has been driven by a high octane litigation environment, ever growing personal injury verdicts, and a gradually sharpened focus on setting up insurers for bad faith claims. About The Authors

Tagged with: 86.121, Bad Faith, Florida, hb 837, safe harbor
Posted in Uncategorized

Florida Begins New Era with Major Property Insurance Reforms

Posted on December 16, 2022 by John David Dickenson, Chad A. Pasternack

For the fourth time since 2019, the Florida Legislature has enacted property insurance reforms aimed towards stabilizing a beleaguered insurance market. The bill, S.B. 2-A, creates a reinsurance assistance program, establishes additional oversight for insurers with high volumes of hurricane claims, and reforms many aspects of the claims process, including the timing for paying and adjusting claims. The reforms further eliminate one-way attorney fee awards to policyholders and ban assignment-of-benefits agreements. In this article, we will focus on the changes to the claim adjustment process and coverage and bad faith litigation. About The Authors

Tagged with: 624.1551, 626.9373, 626.9541, 627.428, 627.70131, 627.70132, adjustment, attorney's fees, Bad Faith, Florida, H.B. 1-A, notice, property insurance, reform, S.B. 2-A
Posted in Uncategorized

Florida Property Insurance Reform Round Three Brings Big Changes

Posted on June 01, 2022 by Chad A. Pasternack, John David Dickenson

For the third time since 2019, the Florida Legislature has enacted broad property insurance reforms with the goal of stabilizing the insurance market and curbing litigation filed by unscrupulous contractors. The bill, S.B. 2D, creates a reinsurance program, amends certain prohibited advertisement practices for contractors, permits issuance of personal lines policies with separate roof deductibles, and reigns in property insurance bad faith litigation and litigation by assignees. In this article, we will focus on the statutory changes that affect the handling and litigation of property insurance claims. About The Authors

Tagged with: 624.1551, 627.428, 627.70152, AOB, attorney's fees, Bad Faith, Florida, Insurance, property
Posted in Uncategorized

Florida Court Holds Rust and Corrosion is “Act of Nature”

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Alycen A. Moss, Elliot Kerzner

A Florida court recently held that rust and corrosion of water pipes is an “act of nature,” and, thus, was excluded from coverage under a homeowner’s insurance policy. In Dodge v. People’s Trust Insurance Company, 2021 WL 2217299 (4th DCA Jun. 2, 2021), Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeals defined “act of nature” as a naturally occurring force that does not require an uncontrollable or unpreventable event. About The Authors

Tagged with: act of nature, corrosion, deterioration, dodge, exclusion, Florida, Fourth District Court of Appeals, naturally occurring, overflow, people’s trust insurance company, rust, water pipes
Posted in Act of Nature

A Look Inside Florida’s Recent Property Insurance Reform

Posted on June 14, 2021 by John David Dickenson, Chad A. Pasternack

Two years after implementing meaningful assignment of benefits reform, Florida enacted broader property insurance claim reform. On June 11, 2021, Governor DeSantis sign S.B. 76, which takes effect on July 1, 2021. S.B. 76 focuses on reducing insurance claim litigation by, amongst other things, requiring timely notice of claims, curtailing certain solicitation practices used by roofing contractors, and limiting the circumstances in which attorney’s fees can be awarded to policyholders in property insurance lawsuits. About The Authors

Tagged with: 626.854, 626.9373, 627.428, 627.70131, 627.70132, 627.70152, 627.70153, 768.79, Attorney’s Fees, Claim, contractors, Florida, Insurance, notice, offer of judgment, presuit, property, reform, roof, S.B. 76, statutes
Posted in Property Insurance Reform

A Consequential Ruling: Florida Supreme Court Rejects Recovery of Consequential Damages in First-Party Breach of Contract Actions

Posted on January 22, 2021 by John David Dickenson, Chad A. Pasternack, Alexandra Schultz

In first-party breach of insurance contract actions, the parties oftentimes dispute whether the policyholder may seek damages that are not explicitly provided for in the policy, with the policyholder arguing such indirect damages flow from the alleged breach of contract. By doing so, policyholders blur the lines between breach of contract actions and bad faith actions. The Florida Supreme Court recently considered this issue in Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. Manor House, LLC,[1] and held that “extra-contractual, consequential damages are not available in a first-party breach of insurance contract action because the contractual amount due to the insured is the amount owed pursuant to the express terms and conditions of the insurance policy.” Manor House arose from a Hurricane Frances…

Tagged with: Bad Faith, consequential, damages, extra-contractual, first party, Florida, Manor House, property insurance, Supreme Court
Posted in Hurricane

Key Questions to Consider in Light of Operation Rubicon’s Investigation into Insurance Fraud in South Florida

Posted on June 13, 2019 by John David Dickenson, Chad A. Pasternack, Joseph F. Rich

Law enforcement in Miami-Dade County, Florida recently arrested nine individuals described by Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis as the “ringleaders of an elaborate fraud scheme” led by Barbara Maria Diaz de Villegas,[1] owner of the public adjusting company The Rubicon Group.[2] The arrests were the result of a year-long investigation, known as “Operation Rubicon,” to investigate insurance fraud, and demonstrate that efforts are being made to curb insurance fraud in South Florida. According to a February 2019 report from the Federal Trade Commission, Florida is ranked as the number one state for fraud and is home to 18 of the top 50 cities in the United States in terms of fraud reports.[3] The alleged fraud scheme involved public adjusters,…

Tagged with: Florida, Fraud, Insurance, Investigation, Miami, Public Adjuster, Rubicon
Posted in Water

Florida’s “Assignment of Benefits” Bill: A Guide Through the New Statutory Framework

Posted on April 26, 2019 by John David Dickenson, Chad A. Pasternack

This week, after 7 years of failed efforts, the Florida Legislature passed a meaningful Assignment of Benefits (“AOB”) reform bill. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced yesterday that he would sign the legislation designed to cut back on abusive AOBs, a practice that has plagued the hurricane-prone state. In recent years, many contractors have taken advantage of Florida’s unique one-way attorney’s fee shifting statute for insurance coverage litigation. This rule has incentivized contractors to, via the assignment of benefits mechanism, charge property owners outlandish amounts and to then pursue needless, sometimes frivolous, and always expensive litigation against insurance companies. Florida H.B. 7065, expected to take effect July 1, 2019, makes several key statutory changes designed to curb AOB practices. We discuss…

Eleventh Circuit Holds Attorneys’ Fees Are Not Warranted Where Policyholder Filed Suit Instead of Undergoing Appraisal

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Chad A. Pasternack

The Eleventh Circuit, in J.P.F.D. Investment Corp. v. United Specialty Insurance Co., recently affirmed a district court’s denial of statutory attorneys’ fees to a policyholder that, to resolve a disagreement over the amount of loss, filed suit against its insurer instead of participating in appraisal.[1] In Florida, policyholder attorneys are often quick to file lawsuits against insurers in order to trigger statutory fee shifting. Florida Statutes § 627.428 provides: (1) Upon the rendition of a judgment or decree by any of the courts of this state against an insurer and in favor of any named or omnibus insured or the named beneficiary under a policy or contract executed by the insurer, the trial court . . . shall adjudge or decree…

Florida Court Rejects Claim Replacement Of Undamaged Property Is Necessary For Aesthetic Uniformity

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Dick Bennett

Late last week a federal court in Florida tossed a condominium association’s claims that it was entitled to replace undamaged hallway carpeting, wallpaper, baseboards, and woodwork in order to “achieve aesthetic uniformity” with similar hallway components replaced after water damage. In Great Amer. Ins. Co. v. Towers of Quayside No. 4 Condominium Ass’n., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 150358, 2015 WL 6773870 (S.D. Fla., Nov. 4, 2015), the court held that replacing undamaged property to insure “matching” is only appropriate if the repairs concern “a continuous run” of items such as that. The policyholder owned a 25-story condominium building in Miami. There was a tiled elevator landing on each floor separating the east and west hallways, and those portions of the…

Tagged with: Aesthetic Uniformity, Florida, Matching
Posted in Direct Physical Loss or Damage, Valuation, Water