HURRICANE & WINDSTORM NOTICE REQUIREMENT

SUMMARY: The insured must give notice of a claim for hurrican or windstorm damage within 3 years of the incident (after July 1, 2021 you only have 2 years). After a claim has been made, adjusted, and paid on any request for additional money must be submitted within three years of the hurricane or windstorm. Since Goldberg the statute has changed, including reducing the notice time from 3 years to 2 years.

Florida Statute 627.70132 Notice of windstorm or hurricane claim

A claim, supplemental claim, or reopened claim under an insurance policy that provides property insurance, as defined in s. 624.604, for loss or damage caused by the peril of windstorm or hurricane is barred unless notice of the claim, supplemental claim, or reopened claim was given to the insurer in accordance with the terms of the policy within 3 years after the hurricane first made landfall or the windstorm caused the covered damage. For purposes of this section, the term “supplemental claim” or “reopened claim” means any additional claim for recovery from the insurer for losses from the same hurricane or windstorm which the insurer has previously adjusted pursuant to the initial claim. This section does not affect any applicable limitation on civil actions provided in s. 95.11 for claims, supplemental claims, or reopened claims timely filed under this section.

Goldberg v. Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Company, 302 So.3d 919 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020) held the following:

1. Based on the policy language drawn from a Florida statute, we hold that [the insured] was required to file a supplemental claim setting forth those damages he sought in excess of what the insurance company had already paid...


2. The policy defines a “supplemental claim” for the purposes of this section as “any additional claim for recovery from us for losses from the same hurricane or windstorm which we have previously adjusted pursuant to the initial claim…


3. After [the insurer] had “previously adjusted” the initial claim, any request by [the insured] for additional payment for losses from the same hurricane fell within the meaning of an “additional claim for recovery.”


4. Where… there is a genuine issue of material fact as to the amount of actual cash value… summary judgment may not be granted in favor of the insurance company.


5. While an insurer’s unilateral determination of the cash value of a loss does not entitle it to summary judgment in the face of a competing estimate of damages, the insurer should not be deemed to have breached the contract where it accepted coverage and paid the only estimate it received of the actual cash value of the loss.


6. Where an insurer’s ‘denial of liability is based upon grounds other than failure to furnish a notice or proof of loss, such denial is tantamount to a waiver of the policy requirements.’