STRINGS ATTACHED TO HURRICANE IRMA INSURANCE CHECKS
FLA.» Some Florida homeowners are finding their insurance companies are employing an interesting strategy to avoid future claims. Settlement checks sent by at least three companies include language saying that accepting the check releases the companies from further obligations connected to the claim.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys say they have problems with this: It tries to intimidate policyholders into not seeking payment for additional costs that come up during repairs, and is likely unenforceable.
Palmetto Bay-based trial attorney Joe Ligman pointed to a section of Florida insurance law stating an insurer, after paying “actual cash value” for an insured loss, “shall pay any remaining amounts necessary to perform such repairs as work is performed and expenses are incurred.”
But that’s not what notices from two of Florida’s largest insurers say. On the back of checks sent to homeowners, Fort Lauderdalebased Universal Property & Casualty states an endorsement by the payee “constitutes receipt and release in full settlement for the claim or item mentioned in the draft.” Universal P&C is the state’s largest property insurer, with 612,227 policies as of Sept. 30.
Along with a check sent to at least one homeowner, Deerfield Beach-based People’s Trust Insurance sent a letter saying, “Your endorsement of the indemnity check constitutes a full accord and satisfaction of a disputed loss.”
A third company, Sarasotabased Gulfstream Property and Casualty, enclosed with checks to at least two victims of Hurricane Irma a “release of property damage” that “does hereby … release, acquit and forever discharge” the company and its officials “from any and all claims, actions, causes of actions, demands, rights, damages, costs, loss of service, expenses and compensation whatsoever” stemming from the hurricane.
Locke Burt, chairman and president of Ormond Beach-based Security First Insurance, said his firm does not send release language with its claims checks “because we agree with the trial lawyer. It wouldn’t stand up in court.” Plus, he said, “We wouldn’t treat people that way.”