July 31, 2023
ShareKelley Kronenberg Secures Another Summary Final Judgment in Option to Repair Case
Kelley Kronenberg Partner, Jordan Lande, and Chair of the firm’s First-Party Property and Insurance Coverage Division, Jeffrey Wank, obtained an Order Granting Motion for Summary Final Judgment in a first-party property case in Pasco County, Florida. The Honorable Judge Kemba Lewis of Florida’s Sixth Judicial Circuit presided.
In this case, Plaintiff’s property had been insured by a homeowner’s policy for the period of April 7, 2020 through April 7, 2021. On February 13, 2021, the property was damaged by a windstorm, and Plaintiff reported it to the insurer, Tower Hill Prime Insurance Company (“Tower Hill”), on October 13, 2021. Tower Hill investigated the loss and timely and properly invoked the Option to Repair in lieu of making a claim payment, as outlined in the policy.
After the timely invocation, Tower Hill followed up numerous times to commence the properly invoked repair process. Rather than cooperating with Tower Hill, the Insured filed a lawsuit for breach of the insurance contract.
On behalf of Tower Hill, our first-party property insurance defense team of Jordan Lande and Jeffrey Wank filed a Motion for Summary Final Judgment explaining Florida case law is clear that Option to Repair (“OTR”) is valid and binding upon the homeowner once properly invoked. The motion set forth that Tower Hill accepted full coverage for this loss and at all times stood ready, willing, and able to complete the necessary repairs to bring Plaintiff back to his pre-loss condition. Tower Hill was required to perform repairs of like-kind and quality that would adequately return the insured property to its pre-loss condition; however, the Insured prevented the repairs from occurring. Instead, the Insured effectively breached the insurance contract by filing suit instead of allowing the OTR repairs to occur. The Court concurred and entered a summary final judgment in our client’s favor.
Through the arduous work of Jordan Lande and Jeffrey Wank, our client averted risk totaling more than $50,000.00. Additionally, our defense team served a 57.105 Motion for Sanctions and Plaintiff rejected a prior Proposal for Settlement, creating pathways for our client to seek attorney’s fees and costs in connection with this matter.