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Rulings limit insurers' liability
The state Supreme Court says companies need only pay for actual damages and those within a policy's parameters.
By Times wires
Published September 21, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Insurance companies can be required to pay only for actual damages and just those resulting from covered perils such as wind storms or fires - not other causes - the state Supreme Court said Thursday in two rulings affecting homeowner policies. The opinions rejected prior appellate court decisions that let hurricane victims whose homes were total losses collect up to their windstorm policy limits even though flooding was at least partly to blame. One ruling could affect an undetermined number of people who lost homes to hurricanes in 2004. Nearly all are victims of Hurricane Ivan and did not have flood insurance or their damages exceeded flood policy limits. Most are customers of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which stands to save nearly $150-million as a result of the ruling, said Citizens spokesman Rocky Scott. Citizens general counsel Perry Cone said the decision affects about 200 pending lawsuits, including class actions with multiple plaintiffs. The Legislature in 2005, though, changed state law to clarify that wind policies provide coverage only for wind damage - not flooding. The court's unanimous decision in the case of Eugene and Debra Cox, a Pensacola area couple who lost their home to Ivan, adopts limitations that are in the new law for damages that occurred before it was passed. The high court's second decision applies the same criteria to supplemental coverage for replacement or repair costs that go beyond policy limits to meet requirements in new building codes or other laws. That ruling came in the case of Juan and Jacqueline Ceballo, whose Maimi-Dade County home was destroyed by fire in 2004. They sought full policy limits for supplemental coverage from Citizens regardless of how much expense they actually had. The decision in the Coxes' case doesn't mean an end to litigation for them and other storm victims. The Coxes' lawyer, Louis K. Rosenbloum, said they now will challenge an offer from Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co. to pay only $11,583 in wind damage under a $65,000 policy.
[Last modified September 20, 2007, 23:28:15]
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by numi
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09/21/07 01:45 PM
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Let's face it. The corps have become super-citizens with far more rights and influence than mere humans. They've certainly gotten what they've paid for, eh, Loretha?
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by Loretha
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09/21/07 08:28 AM
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I'm glad the Insurance Companies can now pay out what policyholders deserve, and not a penny more. Did anyone ever think that this might be the reason we are in such dire straights? Are Floridians that stupid? You get what you pay for. That's it.
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by Ted
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09/21/07 07:35 AM
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You have got to be kidding. if the hurrican did not hit there would be no loss. With that said any damage to the house is a redirect or indirect result of the hurricane, therefore the insurance company is should be liable.
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by kd
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09/21/07 06:13 AM
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state court sides with state insurance company ... you're kidding
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