{"id":895014,"date":"2018-10-09T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T18:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=895014"},"modified":"2018-10-09T12:00:01","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T18:00:01","slug":"florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Court of Appeals Creates Hurdles to Assignment of Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Margo Meta | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepolicyholderreport.com\/2018\/10\/florida-court-of-appeals-creates-hurdles-to-assignment-of-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Policyholder Report<\/a> | October 5, 2018<\/p>\n<p>Last month, the Florida Court of Appeals for the Fourth District weakened assignment-of-benefits claims after it held that an insurer may require all insureds and mortgagees to provide written consent prior to executing an assignment of benefits agreement.<span id=\"more-2163\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0<em>Restoration 1 of Port St. Lucie v. Ark Royal Ins. Co.<\/em>, Liza and John Squitieri\u2019s home suffered water damage. The Squitieris were insured under a homeowners\u2019 insurance policy issued by Ark Royal Insurance Company. Ms. Squitieri entered into a contract with Restoration 1, including an assignment-of-benefits agreement, in order to receive emergency cleanup services. She did not obtain written consent from her husband or from her mortgage company.<\/p>\n<p>The Ark Royal policy, however, contained a provision forbidding insureds from assigning benefits under the policy:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>No assignment of claim benefits, regardless of whether made before a loss or after a loss, shall be valid without the written consent of all \u2018insureds,\u2019 all additional insureds, and all mortgagee(s) named in this policy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ark Royal denied Restoration\u2019s claim for benefits on the basis of this anti-assignment provision. The trial court granted Ark Royal\u2019s motion to dismiss, finding that the assignment-of-benefit agreement did not comply with the unambiguous anti-assignment provision, which required the written consent of Mr. Squitieri and the mortgage company.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Assignment of benefits in Florida<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Assignment-of-benefits agreements are common for companies that offer emergency-restoration services, as they allow homeowners to obtain immediate repairs without paying the restoration company directly. Upon completion of the work, the restoration company seeks reimbursement from the homeowners\u2019 insurer.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Ark Royal<\/em>\u00a0court upheld the trial court\u2019s decision, holding that that the anti-assignment provision unambiguously required that every insured and mortgagee provide written consent prior to the execution of the assignment-of-benefits agreement. The\u00a0<em>Ark Royal<\/em>\u00a0opinion contradicts\u00a0<em>One Call Property Services, Inc. v. Security First Ins. Co.<\/em>, another recent opinion by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth District. In\u00a0<em>One Call<\/em>, a homeowner entered into a contract for emergency water-removal services, which included an assignment-of-benefits agreement. The\u00a0<em>One Call<\/em>\u00a0court held that the anti-assignment provision was invalid under Florida law, which clearly prohibits the restriction of a homeowner\u2019s right to assign claims after a loss.<\/p>\n<p>The<em>\u00a0Ark Royal\u00a0<\/em>decision also directly contradicts the recent decision by the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District in\u00a0<em>Security First Ins. Co. v. Florida Office of Insurance Regulation<\/em>. In\u00a0<em>Security First<\/em>, Florida\u2019s Office of Insurance Regulation disapproved the insurer\u2019s request to amend its policy language to include an anti-assignment provision, which is nearly identical to the provision in the Ark Royal Policy. The\u00a0<em>Security First<\/em>\u00a0court agreed with the regulator\u2019s decision, holding that the anti-assignment provision contradicted well established law, as originally laid out in the 1917 case of\u00a0<em>West Florida Grocery Co. v. Teutonia Fire Ins. Co.<\/em>\u00a0In\u00a0<em>West Florida Grocery<\/em>, the Florida Supreme Court held that an anti-assignment provision requiring an insurer\u2019s consent for assignment of benefits after a loss was unenforceable. The\u00a0<em>Ark Royal<\/em>\u00a0court considered the arguments addressed in the\u00a0<em>Security First\u00a0<\/em>case, but it determined that the court had misquoted and, thus, inflated the holding of\u00a0<em>West Florida Grocery<\/em>, which applied to anti-assignment provisions requiring an\u00a0<em>insurer\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0consent, not provisions requiring the consent of all insureds and mortgagees. The\u00a0<em>Ark Royal<\/em>\u00a0court concluded that the Florida Legislature, not the court, should ultimately make a public-policy determination regarding whether anti-assignment provision may require the consent of all insureds and mortgagees.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What does this mean for policyholders?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Ark Royal<\/em>\u00a0court\u2019s decision is a loss for policyholders and emergency-restoration companies in counties within the Fourth District, which includes Broward, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie. In these counties, policyholders will be forced to pay out-of-pocket for emergency repairs when mortgage companies inevitably refuse to provide consent. Emergency-restoration companies will also be harmed because many homeowners will be unable to pay the substantial cost of service up-front.<\/p>\n<p>Policyholders and emergency-restoration companies in counties in the Fifth District, which includes Brevard, Citrus, Flagler, Hernando, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter and Volusia, as well as those in other Districts, are less likely to face the same challenges because there is controlling case law supporting the position that these anti-assignment provisions are invalid. Until the Florida Supreme Court rules on the issue, there will be continued uncertainty as to the validity of anti-assignment provisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Margo Meta | The Policyholder Report | October 5, 2018 Last month, the Florida Court of Appeals for the Fourth District weakened assignment-of-benefits claims after it held that an insurer may require all insureds and mortgagees to provide written consent prior to executing an assignment of benefits agreement. In\u00a0Restoration 1 of Port St. Lucie v.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Florida Court of Appeals Creates Hurdles to Assignment of Benefits<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9914],"tags":[8884,9895,10229,94,23],"class_list":["post-895014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance-coverage","tag-additional-insureds","tag-advise-consult","tag-assignment-of-benefits","tag-florida","tag-insurance-coverage","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Florida Court of Appeals Creates Hurdles to Assignment of Benefits - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"insurer may require all insureds and mortgagees to provide written consent prior to executing an assignment of benefits agreement\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida Court of Appeals Creates Hurdles to Assignment of Benefits - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"insurer may require all insureds and mortgagees to provide written consent prior to executing an assignment of benefits agreement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-09T18:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"Florida Court of Appeals Creates Hurdles to Assignment of Benefits\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-09T18:00:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/\"},\"wordCount\":744,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Additional Insureds\",\"Advise &amp; Consult\",\"Assignment of Benefits\",\"Florida\",\"insurance coverage\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Insurance Coverage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/\",\"name\":\"Florida Court of Appeals Creates Hurdles to Assignment of Benefits - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-09T18:00:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"insurer may require all insureds and mortgagees to provide written consent prior to executing an assignment of benefits agreement\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Construction Expert Witnesses\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"width\":162,\"height\":75,\"caption\":\"Advise & Consult\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida Court of Appeals Creates Hurdles to Assignment of Benefits - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"insurer may require all insureds and mortgagees to provide written consent prior to executing an assignment of benefits agreement","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Florida Court of Appeals Creates Hurdles to Assignment of Benefits - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","og_description":"insurer may require all insureds and mortgagees to provide written consent prior to executing an assignment of benefits agreement","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/","og_site_name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","article_published_time":"2018-10-09T18:00:01+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adviseconsult","twitter_site":"@adviseconsult","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7"},"headline":"Florida Court of Appeals Creates Hurdles to Assignment of Benefits","datePublished":"2018-10-09T18:00:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/"},"wordCount":744,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Additional Insureds","Advise &amp; Consult","Assignment of Benefits","Florida","insurance coverage"],"articleSection":["Insurance Coverage"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/","name":"Florida Court of Appeals Creates Hurdles to Assignment of Benefits - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-10-09T18:00:01+00:00","description":"insurer may require all insureds and mortgagees to provide written consent prior to executing an assignment of benefits agreement","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-court-appeals-creates-hurdles-assignment-benefits\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Construction Expert Witnesses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advise & Consult","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","width":162,"height":75,"caption":"Advise & Consult"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ztG6-3KPI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":895015,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895014\/revisions\/895015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}