• 20
  • July
    2010
In a recent case, Citizens Property Ins. v. La Mer Condominium Association, Inc., the Fifth District Court of Appeals again held that you cannot sue Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the "insurer of last resort," for bad faith insurance practices because they are a public entity.  This was not the first case on this issue, and I am unsure what theory was being used to try and get around the current law on this.

No Bad Faith - Yes to Breach of Contract

It is important, however, to note that the mere fact you can not sue Citizens "can't fight city hall" does not mean you cannot sue them for traditional breach of contract on a denied or underpaid insurance claim.  The reason for this is that bad faith is a "tort," or "civil wrong," unlike a disputed insurance claim, where the claim is associated with the breach of a contract.  You can, in breach of contract cases, sue them just as you would sue any other insurance carrier.  A lot of people seeking sinkhole information are asking us about this, given that they are dealing with denied sinkhole claims or underpaid losses.  This is not a problem and can be prosecuted as any other case against an insurance company.

Moving from Citizens to Other Carriers

 The reality is that Citizens would generally prefer to lighten its load, and often "sells" its policies to new companies, commonly referred to as "take out" companies.  These companies sign up with Citizens to assume responsibility for policies, so that the State of Florida is not obligated under the policy.  Regardless, you pay a premium to Citizens or the other companies, and then entitled to rely upon the terms of the policy as you would with any other insurance company. If you have a situation requiring legal representation for an insurance claim, contact Corless Zinober FL personal injury lawyers at 866-969-2889