Gran Fortuna Corp v. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation

Loretta Guevara (Hollywood, FL) (Property) obtained Summary Judgment in favor of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation in the case of Gran Fortuna Corp v. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. The case concerned a first party property insurance residential claim related to Hurricane Irma. Plaintiff claimed that the roof system of his property was severely damaged due to wind from the hurricane and that it required full replacement. Plaintiff also claimed interior damage to the property due to resulting water leaks which had begun immediately after the date of the storm. Plaintiff did not report the claim to Citizens until June 19, 2020, approximately thirty-three (33) months after Hurricane Irma made landfall in South Florida. Citizens issued a reservation of rights letter due to the substantial delay in reporting the claim and subsequently, made a request for documentation. Plaintiff failed to provide the requested documentation and thereafter, Citizens requested the documents on two more occasions. Plaintiff failed to respond to any of Citizens’ requests for documentation. Ultimately, Citizens denied the claim because its field adjuster could not determine the cause of the loss due to the passage of time. Citizens based its Motion for Final Summary on three premises: (1) the loss was not “promptly” reported as a matter of law; (2) the delay prejudiced Citizens’ ability to adjust the claim; and (3) the Plaintiff failed to provide the requested “records and documents” thus failing to comply with his post-loss obligations under the policy. In opposition to Citizens’ Motion for Final Summary Judgment, Plaintiff filed his own affidavit and the affidavit of his expert engineer, Grant Renne. In the Plaintiff’s affidavit, Plaintiff admitted that he noticed stains to the ceiling of the master room of the property shortly after the hurricane but simply painted over it and that in 2019, he noticed additional staining on the ceiling in another part of the property. In 2020, Plaintiff admitted that the stains worsened and he noticed stains in multiple areas of the property which was when he decided to retain an attorney and report the claim to Citizens. Judge Robert W. Lee found two independent grounds to grant Citizens’ motion. First, he found that the insured had completely failed to comply with his post-loss obligation to provide the requested records and documents. Second, he found that the delay in reporting the claim was unreasonable as a matter of law, and that Citizens was prejudiced by the insured’s failure to promptly provide notice of the claim.