A Federal Court has refused to retroactively apply Florida's newly amended Sinkhole Statute.
An unspecified Property Insurance Policy was at issue. Specifically, structural damages were claimed due to a sinkhole, "a covered cause of loss".
Effective after the Insurance Contract was in place, a Florida statutory amendment in 2011 provides a statutory definition of "structural damage". The Court refused to apply it, for to do so, the Court held, "would impair Plaintiff's vested contractual rights under the policy." Download Zawadzki v. Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co. *1 (M.D. Fla. August 23, 2012).
For another perspective on Sinkhole Claims, and with helpful links to other blog posts as sources of further information, see the May 10, 2012 post on the Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog.
Dennis Wall is a featured speaker at this year's National Forum on Bad Faith Litigation in Orlando, Florida on November 28 and 29, 2012. Readers of this blog can receive a $200.00 discount on registration by entering the code, "BFB 200," at the American Conference Institute's website: www.americanconference.com/badfaith.
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Good information! I have been looking for information like this for a while now. Thanks!
Posted by: Westlake Village Insurance | September 12, 2012 at 03:39 AM