Bad Facts- Great Win!
Congratulations to Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company on another defense verdict in a first party property insurance case yesterday in Citrus County! Salmon & Salmon lawyers Jayson Serrano and Chelsey Polgar delivered our client a surprising win on a bad set of facts before Judge Edward Spaight. The plaintiffs were represented by Makris and Mullinax, with former Salmon & Salmon lawyer Matt Mullinax serving as first chair.
In Shwed v. Universal Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., Roman Shwed returned from a family vacation to discover water in his shower even though no one had been in the dwelling for days. Mr. Shwed used food coloring to observe that the water was flowing from behind the wall. He contacted a public adjuster, who inspected and photographed the property two days later. Four days after discovering the loss, they called a leak detection company and a plumber to stop the water from flowing. The public adjuster reported the claim six days after Mr. Shwed discovered the loss.
When Universal was able to inspect, Roman and Kenia Shwed had already started the bathroom demolition. While they did retain some damaged property, the only observable material was the discarded vanity. Universal was not able to inspect the damaged drywall, baseboards, or tiles because they were placed into garbage bags and left in a dumpster.
The jury found that Plaintiffs failed to comply with post loss duties and that Universal was prejudiced by the failure. Specifically, Mr. Serrano argued that the Plaintiffs failed to provide prompt notice of the loss, failed to protect the property from further damage, and failed to allow for inspection of all the damages before removing the materials from the property.
Universal had afforded coverage and made payments on the claim. There was other bad information that presented a tough fact pattern. The Plaintiffs’ high settlement demands forced the case to trial. We hunkered down, found the best arguments we could, and worked diligently to exclude bad evidence and to highlight what helped. The jury responded.
The Chair of Salmon & Salmon’s Trial Practice Group, Jayson Serrano, reminded the firm that we can turn bad facts into good facts with great lawyering.
The verdict can be viewed here. It is worth a peek, even if just to observe the dominant signature of the foreperson. Have a great weekend!