Hollywood Florida Insurance Lawyers

Jeff v. Brown        

$18.5 million judgment for a quadriplegic injured by a gunshot wound

Robert Jeff was accidently shot by his cousin in his grandmother’s house.  An $18.5 million judgment was rendered against Robert’s grandmother.  The grandmother’s homeowner’s insurance company refused to pay for Robert’s judgment.  

The insurance company claimed that the grandmother’s policy lapsed when premium payments were not paid.  These payments should have been made  through an escrow account by the bank holding the grandmother’s mortgage.  The bank received notice of nonpayment but did nothing.  Eventually the policy was cancelled.  

The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP brought a lawsuit against the insurance company and several banks that were involved with the mortgage.  Ultimately, we were able to procure a confidential settlement including a bad faith recovery from the insurance company for Robert and his family.  

 

Addison v. American Medical Security and United Wisconsin Life Ins. Co.

$40 million valued settlement after verdict.  

This class action suit was filed against an out-of-state group health insurance company after the company began raising policyholders’ premiums because of sickness and other health-related factors.  The company did this to make it financially impossible for sick people to afford to keep the plan.  Most of the people affected by this scam were near the age of 65 and Medicare eligibility.  The insurance company defended the suit by saying that Florida law did not apply because the company was an out-of-state group.

The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP were able to get the company’s out-of-state group exemption removed.  Florida law then applied to the company’s illegal pattern and practice.  After obtaining this judgment from the court, the parties settled.   The insurance company agreed to reimburse policyholders for extra premiums that they paid, to provide policyholders with reasonable premiums, and to reimbursement policyholders for out-of-pocket losses.

Joseph v. Nationwide

$13 million class action settlement based on auto insurer wrongful conduct

This class action arose out of the insurance company’s arbitrary reduction of payments to victims of car accidents under their personal injury protection insurance.  The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP were able to settle this claim so that doctors and policyholders received the benefits they were entitled to for treatment of injuries sustained in an auto collision.

Johnson v. Allstate

$3.15 million settlement of betterment class action

In this class action, the insurance company was reducing the amount it paid for damages done to a person’s car in a car wreck for something called betterment.  The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP were able to bring a lawsuit claiming that this betterment charge was not permitted under Florida law and/or the insurance policy.

New Covenant Church v. Pacific Insurance Company

$700,000 settlement for a church damaged as a result of a hurricane.

New Covenant Church suffered considerable damage as a result of a hurricane.  When its insurance company did not treat the church fairly, it turned to the lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP for help.  The lawyers were able to minimize the coinsurance penalty being applied to the claim and to convince the insurance company to increase significantly the amount paid on the claim.

Anchor Light v. Citizens

$620,000 policy limits appraisal award for a motel damaged by a hurricane.

Anchor Light claimed that a hurricane caused severe structural damage to its building.  Citizens claimed that the hurricane caused no damage.  The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP were able to demonstrate to a neutral appraiser  that the entire structure at the Anchor Light Motel was rendered unsafe from a phenomenon called uplift.  Sophisticated meteorological and engineering experts established that even though the hurricane did not cause much damage to buildings surrounding Anchor Light, the way the motel was situated combined with the type of roof that was on the motel, caused the damage.

Flemming v. Agguire

Confidential settlement for a wrongful death caused by a car collision—bad faith settlement

Two people were killed as a result of an automobile collision.  The driver of one of the vehicles was a migrant farm worker who was driving a van with a license plate from one of his employers’ vehicles.  The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP brought a negligence suit against the owner of van and the employer.  The owner of the van had a New Jersey insurance policy with $ 100,000 in coverage and the employer had a policy for another $300,000.00.  The employer claimed that the driver was not operating the van during normal business hours and did not have permission to use the license plate.  A judge ruled the employer’s insurance companies were liable for damages.
At mediation, the lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP showed the employer had insurance coverage for the accident and the insurance companies’ failure to promptly pay the  claims was bad faith.  Accordingly, this case was resolved shortly after mediation.  

Essex v. Zota

Florida Supreme Court holds that Surplus Lines Insurance Carrier must follow Florida statutes

The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP changed the way the Surplus Lines Insurance Company operates in the state of Florida.  In Essex v. Zota, Zebersky & Payne, LLP lawyers successfully argued before the Florida Supreme Court that Surplus Lines is required to follow the Florida’s insurance statutes providing consumer protections.  The Essex decision also paved the way for additional cases requiring  insurance policy forms and endorsements to be fair to Floridians. 

We are also involved in class action cases against Lloyds of London, Arch Specialty, and GeoVera Specialty Insurance Company, all surplus lines insurance companies.  The suits are to force these companies to follow Florida law and to provide important coverage to Floridian’s for damages that result from hurricanes and other damages to property.  If you have a case against a surplus lines insurer or any other insurance company, please give us a call to discuss whether we can assist you.

European Woodcraft v. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation

The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP were recently successful in obtaining a verdict against Citizens Property Insurance Corporation for one of its clients.  When European Woodcraft, Inc.’s building was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma, the company thought it had insurance coverage.  Unfortunately, Citizens claimed an insurance policy was never issued, leaving European Woodcraft out in the cold.  We proved to the court that a Citizens agent issued the policy of insurance, even though Citizens claimed that the agent did not have the authority to issue the policy.  We were able to recover all of our client’s damages plus attorneys fees.

Riffle v. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation

The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP were able to obtain a settlement for the full amount of damages suffered by its client.  The insurance company tried to deny coverage for water damage done to our client's home and resulting mold damage.  The insurance company relied on an exclusion in the policy denying coverage for damages done to the premises as a result of water damage.  By using mold specialists and engineers, we were able to establish that the damage to the home and the resulting mold were a direct result of pressurized condensation which came through the foundation of the home.  Arguably this type of water damage was covered.  Citizens made full payment to the client and also paid for the client's attorney fees.

Weiser v. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation

The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP were able to obtain a full appraisal award to replace our client's roof which was damaged in a hurricane.  The insurance company engineers argued that the roof was over 20 years old and the damage caused by the hurricane was minimal.  We were able to use our own engineer and roofing expert to show a neutral appraiser that the hurricane caused substantial damage to the roof, requiring it to be replaced.  

Segall Properties v. Zurich Insurance Company

The lawyers at Zebersky & Payne, LLP were able to obtain the full amount of our client's water damage claim.  The damage was the result of a broken toilet.  The insurance company attempted to argue that the water was the result of a sewage backup which was specifically excluded from the policy.   We argued that the damages were not the result of a sewage backup but of broken toilet, which was covered.  The client obtained the full amount of damages and the insurance company paid Segall’s attorney fees as well.

 

Reported Cases

Freedom Life Ins. Co. of America v. Wallant, 953 So.2d 16 (Fla. 4 DCA 2005); Foundation Health v. Westside EKG Associates, 944 So.2d 188 (Fla. 2006); Schwartz v. USAA Cas. Ins. Co., 912 So.2d 1270 (Fla. 2005);

Gaetan v. GEICO Indem. Co., 911 So.2d 94 (Fla. 2005);

Magnetic Imaging Systems, I, Ltd. v. Prudential Property & Cas. Ins. Co., 847 So.2d 987 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003);

Consortium for Diagnostics, Inc. v. Cigna Ins. Co., 781 So.2d 1128 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001);

Magnetic Imaging Systems I, Ltd. v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co., 775 So. 2d 348 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000)

American States Ins. Co. v. Magnetic Imaging Systems I, Ltd., 750 So.2d 731 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000);

USA Diagnostics, Inc. v. Rosales, 740 So.2d 598 (Fla. 3d DCA1999);

Fortune Ins. Co. v. USA Diagnostics, Inc., 736 So.2d 1279 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999);

Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Magnetic Imaging Systems I, Ltd., 696 So.2d 1302 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997);

Union American Ins. Co. v. U.S.A. Diagnostics, Inc., 697 So.2d 560 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)

Orion Ins. Co. v. Magnetic Imaging Systems I, 696 So.2d 475 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)

Colonial Penn Ins. Co. v. Magnetic Imaging Systems I, Ltd., 694 So.2d 852 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997

Wheeler v. Allstate Floridian Indemn. Co., 19 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D 871 (S.D. Fla. 2006)

PHLD Partnership v. Arch Specialty Ins. Co. --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2008 WL 2635550 (S.D.Fla.,2008)

Innovative Health and Wellness LLC v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. 2008 WL 3471597 (S.D.Fla.,2008)