We are continuing our discussion of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in a class action case against one of the manufacturers of Chinese drywall. The court has ordered that the company pay damages to the homeowners who were the named plaintiffs in the class action. The plaintiffs are not from Florida, but the decision clears the way for Florida homeowners to pursue the manufacturer for damages as well.
The Chinese drywall debacle should be well behind us, but homeowners in Florida and a couple of other states are still waiting for their day in court. Their wait should not last much longer, though, now that the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the second manufacturer of the defective drywall cannot remove the litigation to China and must pay damages to a handful of plaintiffs.
The former “King of Pop” Michael Jackson had fans throughout the world including in the Miami area. His untimely death came as a shock to many and so too likely did its cause. At the time of his death he was in the process of rehearsing for a concert tour that was being promoted by AEG Live LLC. As a part of the tour a non-appearance and concert cancellation insurance policy was purchased from Lloyd’s of London in June 2009.
There have been a few developments on the flood insurance front, and we will discuss those in future posts. There is more to Florida than its waterfront homes and coastal flood plains, though. We are also a state with a sizeable population of retirees and older people. And that means we have other insurance concerns.
As we have said time and time again, insurance is all about risk. In some circles, “risk” is merely code for “gambling,” but the industry shies away from using the latter for some fairly obvious reasons. Imagine, for example, that your insurance agent asks you how much you’d like to bet that your teenager will crash the car or your neighbor will break a leg on your front steps. Risk is a much more palatable word.
Questions about insurance coverage often turn on small details. A decision from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — Florida is in the 11th Circuit — illustrates the point and offers insight into just how complicated insurance litigation can be.
The results of a survey conducted on behalf of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America and Trusted Choice got us to thinking about what consumers know about their homeowners and auto insurance coverage. As we said in our last post, 61 percent of respondents were somewhat familiar or not familiar with the particulars of their policies.
If we have learned nothing else from all the news coverage of Healthcare.gov and rollouts of state health insurance exchanges, we have learned that most health insurance policies renew on January 1. If our health insurance is part of an employee benefit package, we probably renew our life and disability insurance at the same time. It’s routine.
We are circling back to our discussion (starting here) about a small town (not in Florida) that learned in October that its insurance company would be canceling coverage for the town’s police department — both personnel and vehicles — in mid-November. The town council asked six insurance companies for quotes. Just a few days before its coverage lapsed on Nov. 19, the town received the lone bid for its business.
Floridians are no strangers to bad weather. Our location makes us a prime target for hurricanes, year in and year out. Damage from windstorms and other catastrophic events can lead to large numbers of insurance claims. Fortunately, the last several hurricane seasons have been rather quiet.
