{"id":895180,"date":"2018-11-14T14:15:06","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T21:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=895180"},"modified":"2018-11-14T14:15:06","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T21:15:06","slug":"895180-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/895180-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Verdict In Favor Of Insured Homeowner Reversed For Improper Jury Instructions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tred R. Eyerly | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancelawhawaii.com\/insurance_law_hawaii\/2018\/09\/jury-verdict-in-favor-of-insured-homeowner-reversed-for-improper-instructions.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Insurance Law Hawaii<\/a> | September 24, 2018<\/p>\n<p>The appellate court reversed the jury verdict in favor of the homeowners based upon improper instructions purporting to impose a duty to adjust the claim and how to construe a contract.\u00a0Citizens Prop. Ins. Corp. v Mendoza, 2018 Fla. App. LEXIS 9497 (Fla. Ct. App.\u00a0July 5, 2018).<\/p>\n<p>The insureds incurred water damage to their home caused by a water heater leak. After a claim was filed, the insurer sent an adjuster to investigate the claim. The insurer denied the claim due to an exclusion for constant or repeated seepage or leakage.<\/p>\n<p>At trial, the insurer offered testimony that the leak was a continued and repeated seepage of water over a long period of time, which was excluded under the policy, and not a sudden and accidental discharge of water, which would have been covered.<\/p>\n<p>Over the insurer&#8217;s objection, the trial judge instructed the jury regarding the insurer&#8217;s &#8220;duty to adjust&#8221; the claim. This included the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0 \u00a0 Every adjuster shall adjust or investigate every claim, damage or loss.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 \u00a0 Ethical rules provided that an adjuster shall not approach investigations, adjustments, and settlements in a manner prejudicial to the insured.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 \u00a0 Ethical rules also required that the adjuster to make truthful and unbiased reports of the facts after making a complete investigation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The insureds complained about the way the adjuster denied the claim, asserting that it was a violation of the ethical responsibilities. The verdict form posed this question to the jury: &#8220;Did [the insurer] properly exclude the claim from coverage under the policy?&#8221; The jury answered no and awarded $22,000 in damages.<\/p>\n<p>The central fact issue for the jury was whether the insureds&#8217; loss fell under the repeated seepage or leakage exclusion of the policy. If so, there was no coverage. If not, there was coverage. The jury instructions and the insureds&#8217; arguments at trial meant that the jury could have decided the case solely because the adjuster did not &#8220;do a good job&#8221; regardless of whether the incident fell within the policy exclusion. The instructions focused on whether the adjuster &#8220;properly investigated&#8221; or &#8220;properly adjusted&#8221; the claim and addressed a code of ethics. While such considerations may be appropriate in a bad faith case, they were inappropriate in a simple breach of contract action.<\/p>\n<p>Accordingly, the case was reversed and remanded for a new trial on the breach of contract claim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tred R. Eyerly | Insurance Law Hawaii | September 24, 2018 The appellate court reversed the jury verdict in favor of the homeowners based upon improper instructions purporting to impose a duty to adjust the claim and how to construe a contract.\u00a0Citizens Prop. Ins. Corp. v Mendoza, 2018 Fla. App. LEXIS 9497 (Fla. Ct. App.\u00a0July&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/895180-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Verdict In Favor Of Insured Homeowner Reversed For Improper Jury Instructions<\/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":[9,3],"tags":[9895,224,3,10660],"class_list":["post-895180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-contracts","category-insurance-claims","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-contract","tag-insurance-claims","tag-jury-instructions","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>Verdict In Favor Of Insured Homeowner Reversed For Improper Jury Instructions - Advise &amp; 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