Aaron Rudman (Hollywood, FL) (Property) This two-count, assignment of benefits action stemmed from Plaintiff’s claim that Citizens breached the contract of insurance between it and its Insureds by failing to pay insurance benefits as a result of damage at the insured premises purportedly caused by two different water losses. During its claims investigations, Citizens made numerous, written requests to the Insureds to take their recorded statements and Examinations Under Oath. The Insureds initially failed to comply with Citizens’ requests and Certificates of Non-Appearance were entered when the Insureds failed to appear for their mutually coordinated Examinations Under Oath. Citizens ultimately denied the claims as a result of the Insureds’ failures to comply with their post-loss, policy obligations.
In defense, we filed a Motion for Final Summary Judgment, arguing that the Plaintiff “steps into the shoes of the Insureds” with respect to equities and defenses against the Insureds pursuant to One Call Property Services Inc. v. Security First Ins. Co., 165 So. 3d 749, 752 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015), and is thus precluded from filling the instant lawsuit pursuant to Goldman v. State Farm Fire Gen. Ins. Co., 660 So. 2d 300, 305 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), as a result of the Insureds’ failures to appear for their Examinations Under Oath. The Court granted our Motion for Final Summary Judgment and our Motion to Tax Costs is currently pending.