After years of litigation, a multi-day jury trial, and extensive post-trial motion practice, Jayson Serrano and Annie Antos secured a complete defense victory for Florida Peninsula Casualty Insurance Company in The Wright Way Emergency Water Removal LLC a/a/o Christopher Conley v. Florida Peninsula Casualty Insurance Company, pending in Manatee County, Florida.
Following a three-day trial in June 2025, the jury initially returned a verdict in favor of Plaintiff. However, the defense pursued post-trial relief, arguing that Plaintiff failed to satisfy its burden of proof under the policy’s loss settlement provisions and failed to establish the amount actually owed under the insurance contract.
In a detailed post-trial order entered on May 7, 2026, the Court agreed and granted Defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration of its Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict, ultimately entering judgment in favor of Defendant and converting the matter into a complete defense verdict.
Central to the Court’s ruling was Plaintiff’s failure to introduce evidence of the “full replacement cost of the building immediately before the loss,” which the Court determined was an essential component of calculating damages under the policy’s loss settlement provision. The Court specifically found that Plaintiff failed to provide the jury with the evidence necessary to determine which policy calculation method applied and failed to establish the amount owed
under the contract.
The Court further recognized that this was not merely a sufficiency issue, but rather a complete failure of proof on a required policy component:
“This was a failure to present any evidence of the ‘replacement cost of the building immediately before the loss,’ an essential component of their burden of proof.”
This result highlights the importance of preserving policy-based damages arguments through trial and post-trial motions, particularly in cases where plaintiffs fail to satisfy the specific proof requirements imposed by the insurance contract.
