In Florida, owners of property are allowed to testify as to the value of their lost property -- up to a very important point. When an owner testifying to value of her or his property starts to testify based on "specialized knowledge," she or he just became an Expert Witness.
If they were not disclosed in accordance with Court Order, their testimony in this regard is subject to being stricken as in the case of Fidelity Warranty Services, Inc. v. Firstate Insurance Holdings, Inc., 2011 WL 4577530 *4-*5 (Fla. 4th DCA October 5, 2011 and obviously not yet final).
In the Fidelity Warranty case, once the offending testimony in question was stricken, there was no record evidence of value. As a result the Plaintiff in that case did not "meet its burden of proving the market value of its insurance agency," such that the Florida Appellate Court reversed "the final judgment for tortious interference" and remanded "for entry of a judgment for [Defendant] on that count." Id. at *7.
In many Insurance cases, the Policyholder is the owner of property at issue. In many Insurance cases, the Policyholder's claim, moreover, is based on Insurance Coverage for destroyed property, the value of which needs to be established in order to complete the claim, or for diminished value of her or his property and the diminished value must be proven in order to prevail.
The new Fidelity Warranty decision is therefore clearly significant both to potential Counsel for Policyholders and to potential Counsel for Insurance Companies alike.
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