Recent Florida legislation that has limited plaintiffs’ attorney fees and has raised the bar for bringing bad faith claims against insurers has made it more difficult for attorneys representing property owners to invest the time to combat alleged stonewalling and delay tactics by insurance company lawyers.

 

The protections the legislator has given to the insurance industry has emboldened both them and their defense attorneys to assert protections in court that they otherwise would not make. However, recent court rulings are pushing back at their wrongful defense tactics and are ordering sanctions against insurers for non-compliance.

 

Several independent adjusters, who work on a contract basis for insurance carriers, have accused insurers of altering their estimates without telling them or the insureds. In turn, plaintiffs’ attorneys have attempted to gain access to the field and desk adjusters’ estimates and photographs, to show how the insurance company may have altered the damage reports of their independent adjusters.

 

Frustrated with the insurance companies’ gamesmanship and non-compliance with court orders, Florida judges are starting to take a dim view of insurers who claim that adjusters and their notes and manuals should be categorically protected from discovery.

 

“Stonewalling” by Universal Property & Casualty attorneys in order to block discovery of the adjuster’s notes and to depose the adjusters, is behind some of the sanction’s orders leveled against Universal in recent years.

“Simply put, ‘there is no categorical legal rule prohibiting discovery of underwriting manuals in breach of contract cases, especially if they are relevant,’” the 1st DCA judges wrote, quoting from the 2022 case, People’s Trust Insurance Co. vs. Foster. “The insurer’s assertion of privilege was overly broad, just as was the assertion in Foster,” Adjusters’ notes also are not considered trade secrets, to be kept confidential, the judges noted.

 

 

Consumer Law Office (CLO) – Resolving YOUR Property Damage Claims & Disputes!

If you have property damage let the Property Damage Attorneys at CLO help you receive the maximum property damage compensation YOU are entitled to under your insurance policy.

 

DO NOT LET THE INSURANCE COMPANY HAVE THE LAST WORD!

 

Contact CLO Today 305-940-0924 for a FREE Comprehensive Property Damage assessment and consultation.

 

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