Sunrise Condominium Prevails Against Florida Insurance Guaranty Association in Hurricane Wilma Claim Appeal

In an opinion issued yesterday, September 22, 2010, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed a lower court’s order against the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (“FIGA”) in a case involving a Sunrise, Florida condominium association’s claim resulting from Hurricane Wilma.

The appellate court determined that the lower court properly construed the applicable FIGA statutory language in determining that the Sunrise condominium association is not limited to FIGA’s one lump sum aggregate claim payment of $300,000 for the damages caused to the seven individually scheduled buildings and is entitled to the policy’s mandated appraisal process.

The Court found that there is a difference between a policy which contains an “aggregate value” for several insured buildings, and the condominium’s insurance policy, which had a separate schedule for each of the seven buildings.   FIGA was handling the instant claim on a policy issued by Southern Family Insurance Company, which company was previously declared insolvent.

To access the complete opinion, click here.

Should you have any comments or questions, please contact Colodny Fass.