Claims News Service, Feb. 28, 8:49 a.m. EST — The Hurricane LawGroup, a law firm dedicated to legal matters involving hurricanesand natural disasters, recently filed three requests forclass-action lawsuits against Allstate Floridian, Citizens PropertyInsurance, and State Farm, alleging that the three insurancecompanies breached their homeowners' insurance contracts by notpaying for building permits related to damaged or replacedroofs.

According to the suits, which were filed on Monday in theFlorida counties of Hendry, Miami-Dade, and Broward, the threecompanies all used similar HO-3 “all perils” forms from theInsurance Services Office for their homeowners' policies. As partof these forms, there is specific language that details hownon-excluded events and expenses would be covered by the insurancecompanies. The Hurricane Law Group alleges that the expensesincurred by homeowners to obtain the building permits should havebeen included as part of coverage by the three insurers, but werenot.

According to the Hurricane Law Group, any Allstate Floridian,Citizens, or State Farm homeowners' policyholder who made a claimfor roof damage in the last five years could be affected by thelawsuit, including claims made for tornadoes, hurricanes, or othernatural disasters. That could include up to 50,000 Allstatepolicyholders, 100,000 Citizens policyholders, and 50,000 StateFarm policyholders.

“Simple roof repair or replacement is impossible in virtuallyall counties of Florida without a permit being issued to allow thereplacement to occur,” said Guy Gilbert, attorney for theplaintiffs, in his complaint. “Inexplicably, [the] defendants, withknowledge of these provisions, prescribed simple roof repair orreplacement for virtually all of its insureds without any paymentsfor permits and related fees, and without any indication to theinsured that permitting was covered under their insurancepolicy.

“[The] defendants' actions were negligent, reckless, and perhapswillful and wanton in light of its superior knowledge of therequirements under its own insurance policy, Florida law, and localpermitting requirements,” continued Gilbert. “At best, [thecompanies'] actions are a breach of the insurance contract to allindividuals with roof damage requiring a permit to effectrepairs.”

State Farm spokesperson Phil Supple reserved comment until thecompany was able to review the suit, but said State Farm has paidbillions in claims over the last several years in Florida andactively encourages its policyholders to contact them if they haveany questions or concerns about coverage.

Allstate Floridian spokesperson Adam Shores declined to commenton case specifics, but echoed similar sentiments as State Farm,saying that the company is confident in the way they've handledclaims in Florida.

Citizens declined to comment.

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