Sarah Goldberg, of our Miami office, secured a summary judgment in a first-party property case on a claim that had been denied for prejudice resulting from late notice.  The initial summary judgment hearing occurred in March of this year, where the trial Judge concluded that there was late notice as a matter of law, but held there was an issue of fact as to whether Plaintiff could overcome the presumption of the client’s prejudice by the late notice. Plaintiff filed an affidavit from an engineer in opposition to the initial Motion for Summary Judgment where the engineer opined that the insured’s roof exhibited signs of “classic wind damage.” Sarah then deposed the engineer and got him to admit that he was relying solely upon weather data showing high winds on a particular date to prove that the insured property was damaged by Hurricane Irma. Sarah persuasively argued at the second summary judgment hearing that causation testimony alone (supported by no facts), does not create an issue of fact as to whether Plaintiff can overcome the prejudice under a number of Florida cases. Judge Jennifer Bailey agreed, finding that the client is not required to accept the insured’s engineer’s findings from an inspection occurring more than three years post loss and was, in fact, prejudiced because there was no opportunity to inspect the property in the condition it was immediately after Hurricane Irma.