IT’S A FLOOD!
Congratulations to Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company on a defense verdict in Lee County, Florida! Salmon & Salmon accepted this transfer file from another defense firm in July of this year after the Court expedited the trial for these eight- year old plaintiffs. Peter Kamm of Henderson Franklin tried the case for the plaintiffs.
Kemp v. Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company arose out of a total loss claim filed by the insureds against Homeowners Choice after their house completely washed away during Ian. Homeowners Choice investigated the claim pre suit with an engineer and determined that storm surge caused the structural damage, knocked the property off its foundation, and washed it away. Homeowners Choice denied the claim based on the flood exclusion. The insureds also filed a claim with their flood carrier, which paid policy limits. After receiving policy limits, the insureds then filed suit against Homeowners Choice claiming the total loss was a result of wind. The property was located here.
When Salmon & Salmon received the case, the file needed significant work and a change in strategy to posture for trial. However, most of the case management deadlines had already expired upon receipt of the file. We were able to successfully get the court to strike two of plaintiff’s witnesses and to allow specific evidence of plaintiff’s flood claim to come into evidence. We were also able to convince the court not to strike a crucial supplemental report from their expert generated late into the litigation.
During the trial, plaintiffs attempted to convince the jury that the jury should disregard the flood and only pay them for the wind damage. Salmon & Salmon, however, successfully convinced the jury that storm surge caused the total loss and that the plaintiffs were double dipping. Plaintiffs asked the jury for over $600,000 and the jury came back with a complete defense verdict for Homeowners Choice. The verdict is here.
The insureds retained engineer Sunny Gulati to testify that wind damaged their dwelling. Homeowners Choice retained meteorologist Howard Altschulte and engineer Michael Burden.