News & Events

The boom in craft breweries and premium wineries means there are more entrants into the business. Insurance companies are seeing a corresponding uptick in claims from breweries and wineries. The current economic conditions, especially inflation and labor shortages, are introducing new risks and increasing old ones at these businesses. Brewery and winery companies should seek out advice on risk mitigation strategies to help avoid large losses. Here are some of the most common claims insurers see resulting from operations at wineries and breweries.

The firm’s Tallahassee office shared the spirit of giving this Holiday Season by collecting food donations for underprivileged families in the Tallahassee and surrounding areas.

The firm partnered with Second Harvest of the Big Bend which provides healthy food and other needed items for low-income and unemployed people to relieve situations of emergency and distress. As the region’s primary source for charitable food, Second Harvest acts as a storage and distribution depot for over 149 smaller front-line agency partners (emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, children’s homes, homes for the mentally disabled, and domestic violence shelters) in 17 Florida counties -11 counties in the Feeding America service area (Calhoun; Franklin; Gadsden; Gulf; Jackson; Jefferson; Leon; Liberty; Madison; Taylor; and Wakulla), plus 6 counties under agreement with other North Florida food banks.

To learn more about Second Harvest of the Big Bend, please click here.

Orlando attorneys, partner Rod Lundy and associate Tiffany Miles, recently won a motion for summary judgment in Hillsborough County for an automobile insurer in a declaration action, where the court found no duty to defend or indemnify an insured for a motor vehicle accident.  The insured operated a rented U-Haul when hitting a vehicle with 6 individuals, all claiming injury.  The carrier denied coverage, alleging the rented U-Haul was not covered under the insured’s policy.  The insured retained counsel after the six individuals in the opposing vehicle made injury claims.  Attorneys Lundy and Miles filed a declaratory judgment action, contending the rented U-Haul as a commercial vehicle was not a “covered” “insured” or “listed” auto under the policy, as it was a private passenger vehicle with “a cab separate from the cargo area;” they further contended the insured’s business use of the U-Haul fell within the policy’s “commercial enterprise” exclusion.  Several corporate and individual depositions preceded the carrier’s motion, which was opposed by the insured.  The motion for summary judgment was granted in full, and a final judgment was entered on behalf of the insurance company.

The United States insurance industry is worth over $1 trillion spread across thousands of companies. Each year, insurance fraud conservatively costs these companies over $80 billion. These costs are ultimately passed along to consumers in the form of higher premiums. Insurance companies must stay one step ahead of those who seek to defraud them, and it is not easy to do so given the sophisticated methods fraudsters may use. One way that insurance companies can enhance their own anti-fraud capabilities is through the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence.