Appraisal clauses would be mandated in Florida property insurance policies for disputed property insurance claims, if the Legislature passes a bill filed this week by Rep. Frank Artiles, R-Miami. Rep. Artiles is a public adjuster. The bill is available at the following link: HB 947. The impetus for the bill is the elimination of mandatory appraisal clauses from the policies of many Florida property insurers, including Nationwide and Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
This summary was prepared by Perry Cone and is posted at www.tallyinslaw.com/
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1 comment:
Perry,
While Citizens did not technically eliminate the Appraisal provision, they effectively made the utilization of the Appraisal provision impractical. The traditional Appraisal provision is a ‘unilateral demand’ clause that can be invoked by either party. Citizens changed their policy to a ‘bilateral agreement’ where both parties MUST AGREE to submit their differences to the Appraisal process. Consequently either party can decline the implementation of the Appraisal provision as an alternative dispute resolution method.
Effective January 1, 2010 the Appraisal provision in the standard Citizens policy was revised to the following:
E. Mediation Or Appraisal
2. Appraisal. If you and we fail to agree on the amount of loss, either may request an appraisal of the loss by presenting the other party with a written request for appraisal of the amount of loss. If the other party agrees in writing to participate in appraisal, then appraisal shall proceed pursuant to the terms of a written agreement between the parties.
You can view the Citizens policy at this link:
http://www.scribd.com/full/49703005?access_key=key-19uk91u5rvzswbyiq1zk
Dan Luby
Precision Advisors, LLC
www.PrecisionAdvisors.us
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