News & Events

West Palm Beach attorneys Melissa G. McDavitt and Brittany N. Jones, prevailed on their Motion for Final Summary Judgment on a late reported hurricane Irma claim. The court, in granting the Defendant’s Motion found Plaintiff failed to rebut the presumption of prejudice to the Defendant as a result of their late reporting. 

While plaintiffs’ lawyers like to continuously point their fingers at insurance companies, the reality is that insurers must contend with a number of minefields and difficulties on all sides. When insurance companies deny claims, they are portrayed as heartless and penny-pinching; however, increases in fraud and litigation have made things precarious for Florida’s homeowners' insurance companies. Now, many of them are on the verge of bankruptcy and could go out of business without help from the Florida Legislature. 

Workers’ compensation insurance providers are not powerless when they have to pay out claims where a third party was responsible for the injury. In these situations, the insurance provider has the right of subrogation, where it can recover what it paid for the claim from the responsible party. Subrogation can occur when someone outside the employment relationship caused the injury.

The legal landscape in which insurance companies operate is constantly in flux, especially when technology is involved. There are core legal obligations that require insurance companies to play defense when dealing with cybersecurity issues; however, an insurance company can get ahead of these issues by being proactive. At a minimum, carriers must follow data security safeguard laws.

Florida is known for its theme parks. In 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, 87.5 million people visited the state’s eight largest amusement parks. This total does not include the countless people who enjoy the rides at local carnivals. The unfortunate downside to these millions of theme park visits is that a number of guests will suffer injuries on rides or at the parks. When that happens, they may file a lawsuit against the amusement park owner or the carnival operator.