On October 17, a Florida jury ordered the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to pay close to $1 million in damages to the Sunglow Condominium Resorts for failure to provide proper coverage after hurricanes Charley and Frances in 2004.
The jury found that the $370,000 Citizens paid out to the condo complex did not nearly come close to fulfilling their financial obligations to cover damage created from the hurricanes. Currently, there are about 2,000 other unresolved claims against Citizens stemming from the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. In most of these cases, the plaintiffs have argued that Citizens is guilty of lowballing their clients’ damage estimates.
After their successful verdict last week, Sunglow plans to file another lawsuit against Citizens for bad faith practices. Since Citizens is a government insurer, they fall in a gray area regarding bad faith claims. At the moment, it is uncertain whether the court will find that they are immune from bad faith claims due to their government insurer status.
While the $950,000 verdict was clearly a victory for the condominium association, it was much less than the $5 million they were asking for. However, this victory should pave the way for similar judgments against Citizens in many of their other pending claims.
The damage and destruction caused by hurricanes result in millions of dollars in property damage across the southeast and Gulf regions each year. Many insurance companies frequently try to minimize their liability by offering clients unfairly low settlements or denying their claim outright due to a technicality. If you feel that your insurance company hasn’t dealt fairly with you, it is important to consult an experienced bad faith insurance attorney who can help you receive what is rightfully yours.
If you have a bad faith insurance claim in the Orlando, Florida area, please contact the law offices of Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter today to schedule an initial consultation.
