What is an Appraisal?
The Situation: On September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall and left a path of destruction from the Florida coast through North Carolina, with total insured losses estimated in the tens of billions of dollars....more
A new Florida appellate decision may dramatically affect recovery in homeowner property insurance lawsuits. In Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company v. Qureshi, No. 4D2023-1338 (Fla. 4th DCA, July 24, 2024), a...more
The Third District Court of Appeals of Florida is the latest to join the growing number of Florida appellate courts that have ruled that the pre-suit notice provision of section 627.70152 is procedural in nature and, as such,...more
A federal court recently held that an insurer could not deny coverage under a homeowner’s policy based upon the failure of the named insured’s son, an “insured person,” to submit to an examination under oath (“EUO”). In...more
Eastern District Finds That Insurer’s Delay In Disclaiming After Insured Gave Notice Of Occurrence Precluded Insurer’s Reliance Upon Exclusions Two employees of Extreme Residential Corp. were involved in a construction...more
Long Island is especially beautiful in late summer and early autumn. The sizzling summer heat has started to fade, the leaves on the area’s stately trees are green, and the warm water temperatures continue to attract ...more
House Bill 98, making changes to condominium insurance requirements, was passed during this year’s legislative session and signed into law by Governor Moore. It amends Section 11-=114 of the Condominium Act concerning the...more
It’s a volatile time within the private client insurance market, and California homeowners are in a tough spot as we head further into 2023. Specialized affluent market insurers in the state continue to struggle to offer...more
Between 2017 and 2022, 11 property and casualty insurers writing mainly homeowners insurance in Florida, where they were domiciled, were declared insolvent and placed in liquidation. This does not include any potential...more
It is nearly impossible to watch any newscast without hearing an expert’s warning that 2022’s wildfire season is arriving early and going to be severe. This warning has come to fruition, especially in New Mexico, where in...more
On Friday, October 2, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara of the California Department of Insurance (“Department”) published a Notice addressed to and making several “requests,” detailed below, of both admitted and...more
It happens all the time – a water leak in a house or other building goes unnoticed for some period of time, and then mold appears. Insurance policies generally provide coverage to repair water damage, provided other policy...more
When the insured and insurer disagree on the amount of a particular loss, an appraiser can help settle the matter. Partner and insurance attorney Nate Meyer explains an appraiser's role in this video. ...more
• The Florida Senate recently passed assignment of benefits (AOB) legislation that is expected to be signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The bill is intended to bring much needed reform to the abused and litigious practice of...more
Many typical homeowner’s insurance policies contain an exclusion for damages as a result of freezing unless the homeowner uses “reasonable care” to maintain heat in the home....more
I’ve regularly followed on my blog key developments in the numerous class actions against the insurance industry involving the application of depreciation to the labor cost component of estimated replacement cost value in...more
Nearly two years ago, a California appellate court invalidated a rule promulgated by the state’s Insurance Commissioner, on the ground that the regulator lacks authority to prohibit “deceptive acts or practices” which are not...more
The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut recently reaffirmed its ruling that the term “collapse,” as defined by a homeowners insurance policy, is unambiguous and that the policy in question did not...more
A homeowners insurance policy often covers every member of a family, and many policies state that the insurance applies separately to each insured. The same policies usually exclude coverage for intentional acts. But what...more
In Fontana Builders, Inc. v. Assurance Company of America, Case No. 2014AP821, 2016 WL 3526408 (Wis. Jun. 29, 2016), the Wisconsin Supreme Court addressed whether the purchase of a homeowner’s policy by the occupiers and...more
One of the issues I’ve been covering on this blog is a series of putative class actions in Georgia arising out of a Georgia Supreme Court decision in 2012, which held that diminution in value of real property is potentially...more
Insurance contracts are subject to numerous statutes and regulations specifying whether and how certain facts must be disclosed, certain coverages must be offered and certain coverage options must be accepted or declined. ...more
Two of this blog’s four rotating headers depict a hurricane and a fire as examples of potentially-destructive types of property damage, and the hurricane season (June through November) and the wildfire season (late spring...more
Two of our previous posts reported that Arkansas and Kentucky courts have now barred insurers from depreciating labor—as opposed to materials—when arriving at actual cash value (ACV). Last Wednesday in Graves v. American...more
Texas insurance carrier clients writing significant property insurance business in Texas all confirm a disturbing trend. Historically, Texas insurers have seen less than 2 percent of their property insurance claims result in...more