Florida Insurance Law Blog

Since 2004, I have had the privilege, along with my good friends, our lead counsel Robert Axelrod, Scott Russell, Jay Dean, and John Mills to represent several terrific Florida citizens and homeowners in class action cases against three of the largest Title Insurers in Florida: First American Title Insurance, Commonwealth Land Title Insurance, and Fidelity National Title Insurance.

In 1999, the Florida legislature passed a statute that mandates that homeowners who refinance their mortgages, receive a discounted, reissue premium rate for the lender's policy of title insurance. Our clients, like many, many other Florida homeowners who refinanced their homes since 1999, did not get the discount, and instead were charged the full "retail" premium for title insurance when they refinanced their homes.

Two of our cases are being litigated in Nassau County, Florida, and last year the trial judge certified the classes in the cases against Commonwealth and First American. Commonwealth and First American appealed that order to the Florida First District Court of Appeals.

I am happy to report that earlier this month, the First District affirmed the trial judge's decision. Here is the link to the opinion, which explains the case in far greater and more accurate detail than I can in this blog post: http://opinions.1dca.org/written/opinions2011/02-07-2011/10-2139.pdf

We will now be sent back to the trial court where we will litigate the "merits" of our cases. If we are successful, thousands of Florida homeowners may qualify to receive substantial amounts of money due to the overcharges.

We certainly can't guarantee that we will win, or that we will, likewise have the class certified in the other case, against Fidelity National Title, which is pending in Broward County. However, we are, to use the legal vernacular, "cautiously optimistic"!

I'll report further....

In 2007 we had the opportunity to represent a terrific young lady, Larose McLoyd, who had been the victim of a fraud perpetrated on her by the National Indemnity Company of the South and one of it's claims personnel, Ms. Dworak. Here is the link to our brief description of the underlying facts and litigation: http://www.liggiolaw.com/lawyer-attorney-1246051.html

Today, the Florida 1st District Court of Appeals rejected National Indemnity Company's appeal of that verdict.

This case is proof that our justice system can level the playing field between the corporation and the individual, and between the rich and powerful and the less fortunate members of our society.

Although not an insurance case, this week the Florida 1st District Court issued an opinion in: R. LAMAR WHEELER v. WHEELER, ERWIN & FOUNTAIN, P.A., etc., et al, which contains an excellent discussion of how courts read and interpret contracts in Florida.

Insurance disputes often involve insurance contract interpretation. Insurance contracts are no different than any other contract when it comes to how we read it.