A Florida appellate court recently interpreted a “Concealment or Fraud” provision that voids coverage where an insured makes “material false statements” as requiring intentional deception, extending the split amongst the Florida appellate courts. In Vargas v. SafePointe Ins. Co., No. 3D19-1656, 2022 WL 108428 (Fla. 3d DCA Jan. 12, 2022), a homeowner reported a water loss to her property insurer following a plumbing leak. The insurer immediately requested repair invoices from prior claims and photographs of the pre-loss condition of the property. The homeowner, however, never provided this information. Instead, she submitted a sworn proof of loss with an itemized estimate.
The insurer subsequently denied coverage and the homeowner, in turn, filed suit. In discovery, the insurer served interrogatories asking about prior claims, and the homeowner disclosed only a roof claim approximately a decade earlier. At her deposition, she testified that she had not made any prior insurance claims involving plumbing leaks. But that testimony appeared to be incorrect. The insurer took the deposition of the homeowner’s previous property insurer, who testified that the homeowner made a similar plumbing claim only a few years earlier, and that the earlier claim included damage in many of the same areas presently being claimed.
As a result of this testimony, the insurer moved for summary judgment, in part arguing coverage is void under the Concealment or Fraud provision in the policy:
3. ...
PHOTOS: COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION OF SINGAPORE SINGAPORE – Three online retailers have been caught using misleading features to influence shoppers by Singapore’s consumer and competition...