{"id":896227,"date":"2019-07-31T11:41:40","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T17:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=896227"},"modified":"2019-07-31T11:41:50","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T17:41:50","slug":"evolving-collapse-coverage-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/evolving-collapse-coverage-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolving Collapse Coverage in Florida is Not Defined by the Prominent Hip-Hop\/Rap Artist Eminem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chip Merlin | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog<\/a> | July 26, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a younger member of the Merlin Law Group team, my generation is more likely to appreciate the lyrical ingenuity of the Eminem song,\u00a0\u2019Till I Collapse<\/em>. Homeowners of all generations, however, should appreciate how collapse coverage is defined in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your homeowner\u2019s insurance policy may include an additional coverage for \u201ccollapse.\u201d Collapse may be covered for a variety of causes depending on the policy, such as hidden decay, insect\/vermin damage, weight of rain, weight of contents, defective material\/construction and others. But what does \u201ccollapse\u201d even mean? Does my house need to be reduced to an unrecognizable pile of rubble to allow insurance coverage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defining \u201ccollapse\u201d and whether your home insurance policy will cover a loss is something that the courts, policyholders, and insurance companies often grapple with. For an excellent background on collapse coverage, see previous MLG blog post,\u00a0Court Defines \u201cCollapse\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/a>by\u00a0Shane Smith, or for how collapse coverage is applied under California law, see,\u00a0What Constitutes an \u201cAbrupt Collapse\u201d?<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0by\u00a0Edward Eshoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Florida, collapse coverage has evolved due to changes in policy language and judicial interpretation. If no definition is provided in the policy language, courts since 1978 have defined \u201ccollapse\u201d quite liberally as \u201ca material and substantial impairment of the basic structure of a building or part of a building.\u201d1<\/sup> However, since contract law allows parties to determine their own definitions, insurance companies soon began to write more precise definitions into the policy language to constrict their collapse coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, one policy I recently read covers only losses of an \u201cabrupt collapse,\u201d defined more specifically as \u201can abrupt falling down or caving in of a building or any part of a building with the result that the building or part of the building cannot be occupied for its intended purpose.\u201d2<\/sup>However, a policy like this one still leaves words such as \u201cabrupt,\u201d \u201ccave-in,\u201d3<\/sup> and \u201cfall down\u201d4<\/sup>open to interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, an ambiguous provision is construed in favor of the insured and strictly against the drafter. In\u00a0Kings Ridge Community Association, Inc. v. Sagamore Insurance Company<\/em>,5<\/sup>\u00a0the court picked up a\u00a0Merriam\u2013Webster\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0dictionary to settle the ambiguity. Here \u201cabrupt\u201d was defined as an \u201caction or change without preparation or warning: unexpected.\u201d Thus, the court held a clubhouse roof that suddenly buckled when the trusses failed, leaving it sagging inward about 12-inches, may constitute an \u201cabrupt collapse\u201d under the policy.6<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, the Southern District of Florida decided another \u201cabrupt collapse\u201d case under Florida law.7<\/sup> Despite a similar structural \u201csagging\u201d as the caved-in roof in Kings Ridge<\/em>, this collapse seemed to be less \u201cabrupt.\u201d Often a factor is whether the owner knew or should have known the damage was threatening the structural integrity of the property prior to the collapse. The property owner here likely knew the building was steadily collapsing over time, since the structural defects had existed for years and the building admittedly had \u201cgradually deteriorated.\u201d In fact, the property owner submitted several conflicting dates as to when the building actually \u201ccollapsed.\u201d The case therefore did not make it to the jury to determine the factual issues. However, this case is currently on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the words of rap artist Eminem, no collapse occurs \u201c\u2019till the roof comes off, \u2019till the lights go out.\u201d Insurance companies and Florida courts have clearly taken a different approach to define collapse and determine whether a loss is covered under your homeowner\u2019s policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Note:<\/strong>\u00a0This guest blog is by Sean Cornell, a law student clerking in our Tampa, Florida, office)<\/em>
_______________________________
1<\/sup>\u00a0Auto Owners Ins. Co. v. Allen<\/em>, 362 So.2d 176 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978).
2<\/sup>\u00a0For a different policy language example,\u00a0see<\/em>\u00a0Sandalwood Condominium Ass\u2019n at Wildwood, Inc. v. Allstate Ins. Co.<\/em>, 294 F.Supp.2d 1315, 1319 (M.D.Fla.2003)\u00a0(involving a policy that mandates a collapse be \u201cdirect, sudden and accidental physical damage\u201d).
3<\/sup>\u00a0Kings Ridge Cmty. Ass\u2019n, Inc. v. Sagamore Ins. Co.<\/em>, 98 So.3d 74, 78 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012)(defining \u201cCave-in\u201d as \u201cto fall down or inward\u2026\u201d).
4<\/sup>\u00a0Kings Ridge<\/em>, 294 F.Supp.2d at 78 (defining \u201cFall\u201d as \u201cto descend freely by the force of gravity \u2026 to hang freely \u2026 to drop oneself to a lower position \u2026 to become lower in degree or level.\u201d).
5<\/sup>\u00a0Id.<\/em>
6<\/sup>\u00a0Id.<\/em>
7<\/sup>\u00a0S.O. Beach Corp., et al. v. Great American Ins. Co.<\/em>, 305 F.Supp.3d 1359 (S.D.Fla.2018).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chip Merlin | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | July 26, 2019 As a younger member of the Merlin Law Group team, my generation is more likely to appreciate the lyrical ingenuity of the Eminem song,\u00a0\u2019Till I Collapse. Homeowners of all generations, however, should appreciate how collapse coverage is defined in Florida. Your homeowner\u2019s insurance… Continue reading Evolving Collapse Coverage in Florida is Not Defined by the Prominent Hip-Hop\/Rap Artist Eminem<\/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":[9895,8672,94,23],"class_list":["post-896227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance-coverage","tag-advise-consult","tag-collapse","tag-florida","tag-insurance-coverage","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nEvolving Collapse Coverage in Florida is Not Defined by the Prominent Hip-Hop\/Rap Artist Eminem - 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