Case Results

Notable Settlements, Verdicts, And Appeals
Recoveries & Settlements

Commercial Recoveries

Commercial General Liability Insurance and Excess / Umbrella Insurance

Total Insurance Recovery over $25,000,000

Assisted national general contractor who had been sued for defective construction claims in South Carolina, Nevada, and Florida. The general contractor’s insurance company had denied coverage and a duty to defend. As a result of our lawsuit against the general contractor’s insurance company, the insurance company was required to reimburse defense costs, defend the general contractor going forward, reimburse remediation expenses, and settle the underlying construction defect lawsuits. .

Commercial General Liability Insurance / Excess Liability Insurance / Contractor Controlled Insurance Wrap Up

Total Insurance Recovery over $14,000,000

Assisted national general contractor who was being sued for alleged responsibility for public water reservoir collapse.  General contractor’s insurer had refused to defend the general contractor. Our firm filed suit and successfully negotiated a defense through counsel of the client’s choosing and settlement of the underlying construction defect claim.

Commercial General Liability / Excess Insurance / Additional Insured

Total Insurance Recovery: Over $10,000,000

Assisted general contractor who was sued for over $30,000,000 in a defective construction lawsuit. While one of the general contractor’s insurers agreed to defend under a reservation of rights, the general contractor’s other insurers, subcontractors and subcontractors’ insurers all refused to defend and meaningfully participate in the settlement of the defective construction case. After our firm became involved, the construction defect case was settled with contributions from all insurers for the general contractor as well as insurers for the subcontractors.

Commercial Property Insurance

Total Insurance Recovery $8,000,000

Assisted a Naples condominium association in claims presentation and lawsuit over Hurricane Wilma damage to building and common elements. .

Builder’s Risk Insurance

Total Insurance Recovery $3,400,000

Assisted Florida roadway authority in pre-suit resolution of bridge collapse claim.

Commercial General Liability Insurance

Total Insurance Recovery $1,000,000

The general contractor was sued by homeowner for alleged defective construction. The general contractor’s insurer reserved its right to deny coverage and filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit against the contractor. Our firm obtained a partial summary judgment relative to an exclusion asserted by the insurer to deny coverage.

Commercial General Liability/Excess Insurance/Additional Insured/Contractual Indemnity

Assisted roadway and bridge contractor who was being sued for alleged negligence in two wrongful death claims. The subcontractor and the subcontractor’s insurer refused to defend the contractor. We obtained a declaratory judgment that the subcontractor’s insurer owed coverage to the roadway contractor. The underlying wrongful death cases settled shortly thereafter.

Total Insurance Recovery from Subcontractor’s Insurance Company: Confidential.

Professional Liability Insurance and Excess Insurance

Assisted Florida roadway authority in resolution of claims against design professional’s insurers.

Total Insurance Recovery: Confidential.

Home, Auto, Life Recoveries

Homeowners & Automobile Insurance

Represented numerous insureds where the insurance companies denied coverage by making accusation of things like fraud, arson, misrepresentation, or failure to comply with policy conditions.

Total Insurance Recoveries over the last 3 years: over $200,000.

Homeowner’s Insurance

Assisted numerous homeowners against their insurance companies as to claims arising from catastrophes such as theft, burglary, home invasion, burst pipes, fire, water damage and flood.

Total Insurance Recoveries over the last 3 years: over $150,000.

Health, Life, and Disability Insurance

Assisted numerous insureds/beneficiaries against insurance companies for denial of proceeds or benefits.

Total Insurance Recoveries for the last 3 years: over $100,000.

Automobile Insurance

After a complete denial of coverage by insurance company for defendant in motor vehicle wrongful death case, assisted Plaintiff’s counsel by winning summary judgment in declaratory judgment action, resulted in carrier paying limits.

Total Insurance Recovery: Confidential.

Commercial General Liability

Assisted homeowner whose residence sustained millions of dollars of water damage. Homeowner sued the general contractor. The general contractor’s insurance company reserved its rights to deny coverage and refused to settle.

Total Insurance Recovery: Confidential.

Bad Faith

Assisted homeowner whose insurance company had wrongfully denied coverage and failed to settle a homeowner’s hurricane insurance claim.

Total Insurance Recovery: Confidential.

Verdicts & Judgements

Homeowners Insurance/Hurricane Insurance

Homeowner’s residence sustained millions of dollars of water damage. The homeowner’s insurance company denied the claim. With assistance of co-counsel and a three week trial, our firm obtained a verdict of over $8,000,000.

Commercial General Liability Insurance

Assisted general contractor whose insurance company had refused to defend or indemnify the contractor from a lawsuit alleging defective construction. Contractor and property owner entered into a stipulated judgment, also known as a Coblentz agreement, and sued the contractor’s insurance company demanding that they pay the judgment.  After a week long trial, the judge determined that the stipulated judgment was reasonable and covered by the insurance policy resulting in a total judgment over $2,000,000.

Appeals

Commercial General Liability Insurance

United States Fire Insurance Company v. J.S.U.B., Inc., 979 So. 2d 871 (Fla. 2007). The J.S.U.B decision is the seminal Florida Supreme Court case regarding the scope of coverage under a commercial general liability (CGL) policy for defective construction. The case held that defective construction constituted an “occurrence” and that coverage was available for physical damage caused by subcontractor’s errors.

Commercial General Liability Insurance

Auto-Owners Insurance Company v. Pozzi Window Company, 984 So. 2d. 241 (Fla. 2008) (Amicus Curiae Counsel). The court held that a subcontractor’s improper installation of construction materials which resulted in physical damage to the construction materials constituted “property damage” under the general contractor’s commercial general liability (CGL) policy.

Automobile Insurance / Bad Faith

Harbor Specialty Insurance Company v. Schwartz, 932 So. 2d 383 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006). The court held that an automobile insurer who had refused to defend its insured could not intervene after judgment in the lawsuit against its insured.

Appeals/Personal Injury

Worthington Communities, Inc. and Ohio Casualty Insurance Company v. Mejia, 28 So. 3d 79 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009). The court upheld a multi-million dollar verdict in favor of our client.

No-Fault Insurance

Professional Consulting Services v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company, 849 So. 2d 446 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). The court held that medical provider could assign insurance benefits to third-party for collections.

Indemnity

Hiller Group, Inc. v. Redwing Carriers, Inc., 779 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001). We obtained a reversal of the trial court’s ruling which disallowed attorney fees under our client’s indemnification claim. The appeals court reversed the trial court’s denial of attorney’s fees and ordered attorney fees be paid to our client.

Disclosure

The accounts of trials, jury verdicts, settlements, meditations, and appeals contained on this website are intended to illustrate the experience of the firm in a variety of litigation areas. Each case is unique, and the results in one case do not necessarily indicate the quality or value of another case.

If you have any questions regarding these cases or if you wish to discuss a potential case, please contact us.