Citizens Property Ins. Corp. v. Ueberschaer

956 So. 2d 483, 2007 WL 906448
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 25, 2007
Docket1D06-0291
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 956 So. 2d 483 (Citizens Property Ins. Corp. v. Ueberschaer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Citizens Property Ins. Corp. v. Ueberschaer, 956 So. 2d 483, 2007 WL 906448 (Fla. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

956 So.2d 483 (2007)

CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE CORPORATION, Appellant/Cross-Appellee,
v.
Thomas UEBERSCHAER, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

No. 1D06-0291.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

March 28, 2007.
Order Granting Certification May 25, 2007.
Rehearing Denied May 25, 2007.

G. Alan Howard and Robert M. Dees of Milam, Howard, Nicandri, Dees & Gillam, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellant.

Eric P. Sventek of Thomas J. Ueberschaer, P.A., Pensacola; Louis K. Rosenbloum of Louis K. Rosenbloum, P.A., Pensacola, for Appellee.

*484 LEWIS, J.

Appellant/Cross-Appellee, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation ("Citizens") seeks review of a final judgment in favor of Appellee/Cross-Appellant, Thomas Ueberschaer ("Ueberschaer"), which concluded, in pertinent part, pursuant to the 2004 version of Florida's Valued Policy Law ("VPL"), as interpreted by Mierzwa v. Florida Windstorm Underwriting Ass'n, 877 So.2d 774 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004), that: Ueberschaer's dwelling was insured for a covered peril; it was a constructive or actual total loss; and awarded policy limits for Ueberschaer's dwelling, other structures coverage, and ordinance and law coverage. For the reasons expressed herein, we reverse the trial court's final judgment to the extent it awards Ueberschaer policy limits for other structures coverage and ordinance or law coverage, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. We otherwise affirm the final judgment. We find no error with respect to the remaining issues on appeal and the cross-appeal and, thus, decline to address those issues further.

I. Background

Citizens is a statutorily created insurer of last resort authorized to write insurance in Florida in accordance with section 627.351(6), Florida Statutes (2004), which limits Citizens' mission to providing wind-only coverage. Ueberschaer owned a two-story dwelling and detached pool house in Santa Rosa County. Citizens issued a homeowners' policy to Ueberschaer, which covered his dwelling and pool house for loss or damage caused by windstorm and other named perils with the following limits of liability: Coverage A — Dwelling ($456,300); Coverage B — Other Structures ($45,630); Coverage C — Personal Property ($228,150); and Coverage D — Loss of Use ($45,630). As pertinent to this case, damage caused by flood is specifically excluded from coverage.

On September 16, 2004, Ueberschaer's property sustained extensive damage from both windstorm and storm surge caused by Hurricane Ivan. As a result, the Santa Rosa County Building Inspection Department issued a notice of determination of "substantial damage" to Ueberschaer which included the following directive:

As a result of a substantial damage determination, the County has determined that your structure received damages exceeding 50% of the pre-damage structure value as the result of the flooding related to Hurricane Ivan, on September 16, 2004.
Under the [National Flood Insurance Program ("NFIP")] requirements (44 Code of Federal Regulations 59.1), structures located within the 100-year floodplain that receive damage of any origin, whereby the cost of restoring the structure would equal or exceed 50% of the structure value, must be brought into compliance with the NFIP requirements. For residential structures with more than 50% damage, the structures must be either removed from the floodplain or have the lowest floor (including basement) elevated to or above the 100-year flood elevation. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in fines and/or legal action by the County against the owner of the structure.

Although Citizens acknowledged the county's substantial damage determination, it informed Ueberschaer that it would pay only the damage actually caused by windstorm because the covered peril of windstorm did not cause one hundred percent of the damage.

Thereafter, on December 22, 2004, Ueberschaer filed suit against Citizens, claiming the policy limits for his dwelling, pool house, personal property, and additional *485 living expenses (loss of use). He alleged, among other things, that the substantial damage determination issued by Santa Rosa County rendered the insured property a total loss, which entitled him to policy limits from Citizens under the VPL, section 627.702(1), Florida Statutes (2004). He further alleged that Citizens had breached the insurance contract because he made a demand for the full amount of coverage, but Citizens failed to make such payment.

On May 19, 2005, Ueberschaer filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, arguing there was no genuine issue of material fact and that he was entitled to judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Mierzwa. Ueberschaer alleged the flood elevation certificate issued to him revealed that the top of the bottom floor of the house in question fell below the applicable base flood elevation and that, as a result, the only way for him to conform to current construction requirements was to demolish the house and rebuild at or above the appropriate base flood elevation. According to Ueberschaer, this represented a constructive or actual total loss of the residence, and Citizens had acknowledged that the residence had been determined to be a total loss.

In its answers to Ueberschaer's first request for admissions, which were also filed in support of the Motion for Summary Judgment, Citizens admitted that Ueberschaer's residence had sustained some wind damage. In its answers to Ueberschaer's second request for admissions, Citizens admitted: the Santa Rosa County Building Inspection Department had issued a Notice of Determination of substantial damage regarding the property in question; some of the damage was caused by a covered peril; and it sent Ueberschaer a letter dated January 21, 2005, stating in part that his residence had been determined to be a total loss.

Citizens subsequently filed a memorandum of law opposing Ueberschaer's Motion for Summary Judgment, in which it argued, among other things, that its enabling legislation precluded liability for flood damage, that Mierzwa was not controlling and conflicted with established principles of Florida law, and that the 2005 amendment to the VPL made clear that Mierzwa contradicts the legislative intent behind the VPL. Following the hearing on Ueberschaer's Motion for Summary Judgment, the trial court issued an Order Granting Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment, in which it found that there was no material dispute as to the facts that the house at issue was insured as to a covered peril and that it was a constructive or actual total loss. Accordingly, it granted summary judgment pursuant to Mierzwa.

On August 30, 2005, the trial court entered a Final Judgment, awarding Ueberschaer $421,906.76 for Coverage A — Dwelling, $41,734.81 for Coverage B — Other Structures, $42,370 for Coverage D — Loss of Use, policy limits for Code Compliance Endorsement, also referred to as ordinance or law coverage, which amounted to twenty-five percent of Coverage A or $114,075, and prejudgment interest of $33,564.18. The amounts awarded for Coverages A, B, and D are equal to the policy limits for each type of coverage less payments Citizens had already made to Ueberschaer.

During a September 7, 2005, hearing on Citizens' Motion for Rehearing on Plaintiff's Motion for Entry of Final Judgment, Citizens asserted the Final Judgment included damages not previously addressed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
956 So. 2d 483, 2007 WL 906448, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/citizens-property-ins-corp-v-ueberschaer-fladistctapp-2007.