We wrote about a case this firm handled from the trial court assisting up to the Florida Supreme Court in September. The case, Johnson v. Omega, has become a hallmark whenever attorney fee issues arise in sinkhole claims now. It really has set the standard moving forward and put insurance companies on notice to monitor…
It has been a busy trial season and our trial team had another successful result in November. The trial was focused solely on the issue of whether structural damage was present or not, without anyone having even tested for sinkhole activity, the first of its kind as far as we can tell. The trial took…
Our firm took a denied sinkhole claim on a commercial property here in Tampa Florida to a jury last week and prevailed. The trial lasted four days and the jury returned a verdict in favor of our client, a local business owner, Thursday afternoon. The insurance company presented four experts and a corporate representative verse…
The Johnson v. Omega Insurance case In 2010, the firm represented Kathy Johnson in a case against her insurance company, Omega Insurance. Omega had denied her sinkhole claim under the premise that there was no significant damage to her home. We hired another engineering firm who did more testing and found clear evidence of sinkhole…
As background to this issue, when a homeowner prevails against their insurance company on a sinkhole claim (or any insurance claim) the insurance company is required by statute to compensate the homeowners lawyer for their services. The court will look to how many hours the lawyer spent working on the case and then multiply that…
Claim denied for structural damage – what now? One of the most common questions we get is after someone’s claim has been denied based on a lack of structural damage is about the best way to proceed. Fortunately, there are several different options to match most any situation faced by the homeowner. Request additional testing…
Surplus lines insurance carriers and basically insurance companies that are willing to take on large and/or riskier properties. Because they do so, they typically don’t have to be qualified by the State and therefore don’t necessarily have to follow the same guidelines that your typical domestic, private insurance company does. Whether that is good or…
The coverage itself is usually quite similar. Remember that the sinkhole insurance offered here in Florida is written by Statute so all domestic insurance companies follow the same guidelines. Big differences in the coverage can arise when you have surplus lines carriers which often are the only options for a large, riskier commercial property. (More…
Paying for extra sinkhole testing When an insurance company denies a sinkhole claim, the insured has the right to request a test for sinkhole activity when the insurance company may not have completed one themselves. Is this a smart move? Why your claim is denied While every situation is different and needs to be looked…
With the current state of the law many people are often confused about what their insurance company will do when they report a claim. In short, don’t talk to your neighbors that had a sinkhole claim years ago because their experiences will be very different than yours. Under the current state of the law when…
