Built in the 1980s, Cloverplace is a duplex community just off U.S. 19 in Pinellas County. The 120 buildings (240 units) are home to about 500 people, many of them retirees and young families. In 2007, residents of the Cloverplace Condos began to notice unmistakable signs of sinkhole activity. Walls were cracking, stucco was peeling…
Sinkhole repair cost case – Fraser, Michigan The sinkhole lawyers at Corless Barfield Trial Group work diligently to help their clients navigate the often complex and overwhelming information they receive during the sinkhole claim process, which includes costly and intricate repair work. The sinkhole repair cost can be a complicated issue. Take, for example, a…
The Second DCA recently decided Omega v. Wallace. The facts of the case are admittedly odd so I won’t recite them as it gets confusing. Long story short, how we define structural damage was the main issue in dispute. Even though the retroactive application of the changes to the law in 2011 were not actually…
American Home Assurance v. Sebo is a pretty famous case in the insurance world but probably not known at all by your average insured. It is an important decision though that impacts homeowners drastically. The background on the case is complicated but essentially involved an expensive home that was built with numerous defects. In conjunction…
Through the years we have represented several homeowners with damages caused by their neighbors repair. This is actually quite common. As they pump the grout mixture into the ground, they do so at high pressures which often can even cause the ground to heave upwards. Of course, when they are pumping the grout it is…
Is doing the wrong investigation negligence? We asked this question in a recent lawsuit. Our client has filed a sinkhole claim with their insurance company. The company then paid a professional engineer approximately $10,000 to investigate whether or not sinkhole activity could be found in the home. The engineer did find sinkhole activity and estimated…
One common issue we run into is the timing of sinkhole damage and the timeliness of when a homeowner reports the problems to their carrier. While most sinkhole damage appears gradually and gradually worsens over time and most homeowners don’t inspect their house all day every day, homeowners are still expected and required to give…
I have posted numerous times on this but I can’t get enough of it and apparently no one listens to me. Forced placed policies are policies purchased by your mortgage company when you fail to buy a policy on your own. Forced placed policies often go hand in hand with homeowners that are in foreclosure…
In light of some recent discussions on catastrophic ground cover collapse (or CGCC) it may be a good time to recap what that coverage actually covers. CGCC is a mandatory coverage included in all Florida policies as long as it is a policy written by a domestic carrier (companies like Loyds of London or surplus…
Many people come into my office with policies that their own mortgage company bought. Most don’t see what the big deal is and never even thought about changing it. These are bad, bad policies that no homeowner should carry unless absolutely faced with no other choice. Essentially, if you have a mortgage you have to…
