The confusing language of insurance can get Florida property insurance policyholders in trouble. That is why Noble Public Adjusting Group always advises homeowners and commercial property owners to hire a public adjuster like us when you have an insurance claim to file for damages to your property. The fact is, by saying just the wrong words to your insurance provider can cause your claim to be paid at a much lower rate than it should have been, or even have it flat out denied.
The goal of the Noble blog is to educate and inform Florida policyholders about all things related to their property insurance. Our lesson today concerns an often misunderstood insurance term called ‘concurrent causation.” Many of the cases we win against insurance companies come about due to this term. In a nutshell, concurrent causation comes into play when a Florida policyholder experiences multiple causes of a loss under an all-risk insurance policy.
Understanding Florida Property Insurance Term “Current Causation”
The argument for concurrent causation in Florida won a big victory in a case that went to court and the verdict was decided in favor of the policyholder. On December 1, 2016, the Florida Supreme Court decided Sebo v. American Home Assurance Company, Inc.,1 resolving whether coverage existed under an all-risk policy when there were multiple causes of loss and at least one of the causes was excluded, in favor of the insured.
To make things simple to understand, Noble will lay out what exactly occurred in the Sebo case mentioned above. (Note that Mr. Sebo lost in court the first time. The decision above came after his appeal. If he had hired a Florida public adjuster like Noble in the first place, a company who understands concurrent causation, Mr. Sebo would most likely have not ended up in court at all.) After Mr. Sebo purchased his home it began to incur major water leaks during rainstorms and it was later discovered the home suffered from major design and construction defects. When Hurricane Wilma hit Florida on Oct. 2005, the home was further damaged.
Mr. Sebo had exclusions in his property insurance policy against faulty planning and construction. The Florida Supreme Court said it was undisputed that Sebo’s all-risk policy included exclusions against faulty, inadequate or defective planning, including for design, materials, and maintenance, as well as the fact that that the rainwater and hurricane winds combined with the defective construction to cause the damage to Sebo’s property. In the final decision of the court in favor of Mr. Sebo, it was stated that when weather perils combine with human negligence to cause a loss, it seems logical and reasonable to find the loss covered by an all-risk policy even if one of the causes is excluded from coverage.”
Noble Public Adjusting Group Is An Expert in Concurrent Causation
Even though Noble tried our best to explain concurrent causation in layman’s terms in the example above, as you can see it is still a confusing and convoluted term. We would never advise a Florida policyholder to file an insurance claim on their own, and this is one of the reasons. The language of insurance is not policyholder-friendly. You need an expert in insurance who understands terms such as concurrent causation, to make sure your insurance settlement is as large as possible, or that your claim isn’t totally denied.
Since we are in the midst of the 2018 Hurricane Season in Florida but have yet to experience a hurricane, don’t you think now is the perfect time to have Noble Public Adjusting Group review your Florida property insurance policy for free? We offer this complimentary service to Florida homeowners and commercial property owners as our way of showing policyholders that we are on your side and have your best interest at heart.
Call us today for your free Florida property insurance policy review, or to talk more about concurrent causation, or for any other question or concern you have. As a way of helping Noble spread the word other policyholders about how concurrent causation works, we would love it if you shared this blog post on your social media page, or emailed it to a friend.
Noble’s home office is in Panama City Beach, but we help policyholders all over the state of Florida. We also have offices in Texas and Georgia.
Noble Public Adjusting Group
107 Amar Place Suite 103
Panama City Beach (West End), FL 32413
(850) 249-MY-PA