Following Superstorm Sandy, many state insurance departments along the East Coast issued bulletins indicating that insurance companies should not impose hurricane deductibles on homeowners, mainly because the classification of Sandy shifted from a hurricane to a post-tropical storm as it traveled the East Coast. The bulletins expressly refer to homeowners policies and do not reference
Contract Interpretation
New Jersey Appellate Court Rejects Insured’s Attempt to Circumvent the Pollution Exclusion in Asbestos-Related Loss by Using the Vandalism Exception to the Exclusion
When faced with the impending application of an exclusion that negates any coverage for a claimed loss, an insured may sometimes resort to far-fetched or implausible arguments to contend that the exclusion does not apply, or that an exception to the exclusion has the effect of reviving coverage. The insured in Woodcliff Lake Board of …
General Contractor Overhead and Profit Ruling Issued by Florida Supreme Court
The Florida Supreme Court recently joined numerous other jurisdictions holding that general contractor overhead and profit should be included in an estimate on a property insurance claim when, based on the unique facts of the claim, it is reasonably likely that the insured will need to use a general contractor in completing the repairs.
In…
Florida Supreme Court Addresses Ambiguity In Insurance Policies: Washington National Insurance Corp. v. Ruderman
On July 3, 2013 the Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion responding to four certified questions from the Eleventh Circuit relating to whether, in a home health care benefit policy, an automatic daily benefit increase of 8% applied only to the “Daily Benefit,” or whether the 8% increase also applied to the “Lifetime Maximum Benefit…