In Arce v. Citizens Property and Casualty Insurance Corporation, No. 3D22-0722 (Fla. 3d DCA Jan. 3, 2024), the Third District Court of Appeal (DCA) affirmed summary judgment in favor of Citizens, holding it was prejudiced by the nearly three-year-late filing of a Hurricane Irma claim. In doing so, the Court rejected the holding in Perez v. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, 345 So. 3d 893 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022), which created a “policy language exception” to the well-established Florida rule that an insurer is entitled to a rebuttable presumption that it was prejudiced by the untimely reporting of a claim, holding instead that since Citizens’ policy language in its “Duties after Loss” provision incorporates the term “prejudice,” the burden is Citizens’—not the insureds—to prove Citizens was prejudiced. The Third DCA soundly rejected the holding Perez, calling it “counterintuitive” and explaining it “upends the commonsense notice/presumption framework that has evolved from years of practical application.” It has certified conflict with Perez.
For more information, see the opinion here.
