New Florida Case Alert: Retained Public Adjuster Was Not “Disinterested” Appraiser

First-party property policies typically include appraisal provisions requiring each party to appoint a “disinterested” or “impartial” appraiser. A Florida appellate court recently addressed the question of what makes a potential appraiser “disinterested” in a case involving a Hurricane Irma claim.

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Puerto Rico’s New Requirements for Property Insurers: Financial Reviews & Disaster Response Planning

In response to the extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, the governor of Puerto Rico enacted several bills that amend or introduce new provisions to the Insurance Code of Puerto Rico, 26 L.P.R.A. § 101 et seq., including provisions regarding additional civil remedies against insurers, as well as new requirements for insurers, surplus carriers, and micro-insurance providers.

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Third Time’s A Charm - Will This Be The Year Of The AOB Reformation?

The Florida House of Representatives struck another blow against abusive, unequitable, and baseless assignment of benefits (“AOB”) litigation when it voted overwhelmingly in favor of reform by a margin of 82-20 last Friday.  Undeterred by the failure of previous attempts to reform AOB litigation in Florida, (Senate Bill 596, filed October 21, 2015, died in judiciary on March 11, 2016; House Bill 1097, filed January 4, 2016, died in the Regulatory Affairs Committee; House Bill 1421 filed March 7, 2017, died in Committee on Banking and Insurance on May 5, 2017; Senate Bill 1218, filed on February 24, 2017, died on May 5, 2017 in Committee on Related Industries), on January 12, 2018, Florida legislators acted decisively to address the AOB problem that has plagued the insurance industry in Florida.

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Pardon this interruption… Service Interruption Provisions and Hurricanes

As the urgency to repair immediate physical damage to commercial property subsides, and businesses begin to get back to business as normal in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, we will undoubtedly see claims to recover lost revenue, or extra expenses incurred as a result of the storm.  These claims arise under a general claim for business interruption coverage. 

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When a Business Entrance is Blocked: Ingress/Egress Coverage in the Wake of Hurricane Harvey and Irma

As businesses and insurers recover from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, it may take time to fully assess the effects of these storms on a business’s bottom line. Invariably, however, the scale of these natural disasters likely provides some immediate impact on insureds’ businesses – the ability to access the premises may be barred or impacted. 

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Civil Authority Coverage in the Wake of Harvey and Irma

As the category 4 Hurricane Harvey approached the Texas Gulf Coast, many areas evacuated in preparation for the storm. And in the wake of the hurricane and the widespread flooding that followed, additional evacuations and curfews followed.

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Post-Irma Contingent Business Interruption (CBI) Claims

After Hurricane Harvey slammed into southeast Texas on August 25, 2017, our colleague Shannon O’Malley posted about the contingent business interruption (CBI) claims that would inevitably follow due to damage suffered by refining, chemical, and petrochemical facilities that supply critical products to manufacturers and other businesses across the country and around the world. (See “Contingent BI: Why Do I have a Hurricane Harvey Claim from Hoboken?”)

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Irma - Florida Office of Insurance Regulation Emergency Order

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has issued an Emergency Order related to Hurricane Irma.

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Hurricane Irma – The State of Concurrent Causation and ACC Clauses in Florida

For years Florida courts were plagued by the issue of determining the appropriate theory of recovery to apply when two or more perils converge to cause a loss and at least one of the perils is excluded from an insurance policy. Florida courts developed two competing (and potentially inconsistent) theories on how to assess coverage: the efficient proximate cause and concurrent causation doctrines. In December 2016, the Florida Supreme Court in Sebo v. Am. Home Assurance Co., 208 So. 3d 694 (Fla. 2016) put an end to this decades-long debate when it formally adopted the concurrent causation doctrine in a case involving multiple perils and a first-party insurance policy.

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Irma - Florida Property Insurance Claims Checklist

On September 4, 2017, Governor Rick Scott issued an Executive Order officially declaring a state of emergency in all 67 counties within the State of Florida in response to Hurricane Irma. Florida insurers are subject to various statutory/administrative provisions based on their status as either admitted carriers or surplus lines carriers. These statutes provide insurers and insureds with timelines to make and adjust claims. 

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Irma - Concurrent Causation in Puerto Rico

While Puerto Rico was spared a direct hit from Hurricane Irma, it was lashed by Irma’s wind and experienced significant amounts of rain that will likely lead to flooding. There may also be damages arising from storm surge along the Northern Coast. Reportedly, more than 1 million people are without power. Many policies may exclude flood and limit or exclude losses arising from power interruption. Combined with the significant wind damage that is expected, it is inevitable that disputes over the extent of covered versus non-covered loss will arise.

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Irma – Puerto Rico Claims Checklist

With the Imminent Arrival of Hurricane Irma in Puerto Rico, Insurers Should Keep in Mind the Following Claim Handling Requirements from the Puerto Rico Insurance Code.

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