SafePoint Insurance Company v. Sonia Schnepel, A/K/A Sonia Miller

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed December 18, 2024. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

________________

No. 3D23-0922 Lower Tribunal No. 19-22963 ________________

SafePoint Insurance Company, Appellant,

vs.

Sonia Schnepel, a/k/a Sonia Miller, Appellee.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Beatrice Butchko, Judge.

Bickford & Chidnese, LLP, and Patrick M. Chidnese (Tampa), for appellant.

Alvarez, Feltman, Da Silva & Costa, PL, and Paul B. Feltman, for appellee.

Before LOGUE, C.J., and EMAS and SCALES, JJ.

PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Ifergane v. Citizens Prop. Ins. Corp., 232 So. 3d 1063,

1065 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017) (noting that if Citizens’ letter to its insured “was a

denial of coverage letter, then as a matter of law, Citizens waived any right

it had to enforce the insured’s post-loss conditions . . . .”) (citing Wegener v.

Int'l Bankers Ins. Co., 494 So. 2d 259, 259 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986) (concluding

as a matter of law that “the effect of the ... repudiation of coverage was to

waive any right to insist upon the insureds' ... compliance with the various

conditions to recovery”) and Castro v. Homeowners Choice Prop. & Cas. Ins.

Co., 228 So. 3d 596, 599 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017) (“When an insurance carrier

investigates a claim of loss and denies coverage because it concludes that

a covered loss has not occurred, the insurance carrier cannot assert the

insured's failure to comply with the policy's conditions precedent to filing suit

as a basis for summary judgment.”))