For the last several years, complaints have piled up, contending that some Florida engineers have testified or have submitted reports in insurance claims lawsuits about major property damage that was somehow caused by relatively minor wind events.
Some of the plaintiffs’ expert-witness engineers appeared to cite irrelevant or unproven research, or have misconstrued studies to fit the needs of the policyholder attorneys’ claims, according to the complaints and people familiar with them.
“Some of these reports are just fraudulent. The engineer didn’t even go and look at the property—they just looked at photos,” said John C. Pistorino, a veteran Miami structural and civil engineer who helped develop south Florida building codes after Hurricane Andrew hit the state in 1992.
Pistorino noted that examples of questionable engineering assessments in Florida are many. One plaintiffs’ testifying engineer claimed to have written as many 300 reports in a year. That number strains credulity on how the engineer could have had time to investigate the cause of the damage in so many insurance claims, he said.
But despite a growing number of complaints from engineers, building officials and others, climbing from one complaint in 2021 to at least nine in 2023, the Florida Board of Professional Engineers seems hamstrung in its ability to discipline engineers accused of fraud, said Pistorino and others experienced in insurance litigation in a state that until recently was known for its...
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