Fort Myers Beach couple sues insurance over Hurricane Ian claim

In the last two months, Southwest Florida experienced a hurricane double punch with Helene and Milton, but for many people in Southwest Florida, it’s still all about Hurricane Ian from 2022.

“There’s a lot of other policyholders that are impatiently waiting for their day in court and to get their resolution from their insurance carrier,” said Hunter Felknor, an attorney at Walker & Felknor Law Firm.

WINK News reporter Amy Galo caught up with one of those policyholders: a couple on Fort Myers Beach.

For over two years, their lot on the north end of the island has sat empty after Hurricane Ian took their home.

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The couple asked WINK not to be named due to a pending jury trial against Homeowners Choice Property and Casualty Insurance Company.

“She gets all choked up,” said one of the homeowners after Galo asked his wife how she’s feeling. “But it’s heartbreak. It really is. We were hoping to be done by now.”

Instead, they’re now on a long legal road after their insurance company refused their claim for total loss.

“Unfortunately, there’s a lot of logistics and wheels in motion right now, and we’re trying to, you know, see what can come out at the end,” said the couple.

This couple isn’t alone.

“We’ve been trying to help homeowners and businesses in the community that were affected by hurricane damage, where sometimes a claim will get stuck or underpaid or denied for various reasons when really there is coverage for a claim,” said Felknor.

While the day you lose your home after a hurricane is painful, Felknor said there’s one thing worse: when your insurance carrier turns their back on you and refuses to make payment on a covered claim.

When it comes to a total loss after a hurricane, a Florida statute called Valued Policy Law comes into play.

“That discusses total losses and the valuation of coverage when you have a total loss,” said Michael Cassel, a lawyer with Cassel & Cassel.

Total loss means your home is gone, completely.

For hurricane cases, the big thing to prove is you lost your home due to wind, not flooding or storm surge. Something Michael Cassel did back in September, winning the first hurricane Ian insurance claim by jury trial in Fort Myers. Most settle.

“We were able to prove, in that case, that wind would have caused the total loss before flood actually came to the property and therefore should have been covered under the policy,” said Cassel, “so we took a denied claim and turned it into a fully covered claim.”

According to court filings, a jury awarded more than $500,000 in the lawsuit against Safepoint Insurance Company.

“The way you prove it is through experts,” explained Cassel. “We had our forensic engineer, we had our general contractor, and we were able to show not only that wind caused damage, but we were able to allocate a percentage of the damage as it related to the value of the value of the property.”

Then, Cassel did it again, this time alongside Hunter Felknor for the Fort Myers Beach couple’s nearby neighbors. A victory which gives them hope.

“We’re happy to see what happened with them, and we’re hopeful that we can have the same thing happen,” said the couple. “It’s much needed for everything, and you know, for people who have paid their insurance for all these years. I mean, that’s what we have it for.”

While the two cases fought by Cassel were wins, they’re both now up on appeal and could take another couple of years to wrap up.

“Neither one’s actually in appeal,” explained Cassel. “They’re being postured for appeal, but there’s some post-trial motions we have to deal with. There’s final judgments that have to be entered, and once that happens, the insurance company will have time to file their notice of appeal. Unfortunately, that’s a pretty long process.”

WINK News reached out to Homeowners Choice and Safe Point Insurance for comment.

Homeowners Choice declined to comment, stating: “We have a responsibility to protect the privacy of our policyholders and their personal information, therefore, we can’t comment on any individual’s policy.”

Safe Point Insurance has yet to respond.