By David Salmon, Esq.
David Salmon, Esq. Courtesy, Salmon and Salmon, P.A.
Congratulations to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation on a trial win July 16 in Miami, Florida on a Hurricane Ian causation case! Judge Beatrice Butchko Sanchez presided over the trial. Jayson Serrano and Shawn Shaikh of Salmon & Salmon represented Citizens while Ramon Diego and Mark Ason represented the plaintiff, Jean Julio Boursiquot. Remarkably, the case reached verdict in Miami-Dade after just fourteen (14) months of litigation and only three (3) days of trial. That timeline in South Florida should keep everyone on their toes. The verdict can be accessed here.
The underlying claim involved a heavily damaged 20-year-old roof and interior water damage in multiple rooms of the dwelling. Plaintiff’s expert attempted to attribute damage to wind by arguing to the jury that 45-50 mph wind gusts during the storm were sufficient to break the adhesive on shingle tabs and bend them backward, causing microscopic, invisible holes through which water entered. On cross-examination, he acknowledged that this roof experienced wind speeds of this nature up to five times per year and still took the position that he could confidently exclude all but one storm event as the cause for all the claimed wind damage. He also argued that a bullet lodged in the roof was not responsible for the (very visible) hole in the underlayment and sheathing directly underneath it.
The defense team leaned heavily on defenses based upon wear and tear, deterioration, and existing damage. Citizens’ expert, Nazario Ramirez, took more than 700 photos of the property during his investigation. Mr. Ramirez explained that none of the marred and deteriorated shingles were found to be delaminated during his inspection. In closing, Mr. Serrano went through the photo sheets submitted by both experts. He pointed out that none of the Plaintiff’s expert’s photos of allegedly creased shingles were accompanied by shots of the expert lifting those shingles to show delamination. Conversely, of the numerous shots of the Plaintiff’s expert lifting delaminated shingles, none of those shingles showed the creasing that Plaintiff’s expert indicated was a key secondary indicator of wind uplift. As for the bullet lodged in the roof, the defense team used multiple historical aerial images and testimony from multiple witnesses to show that the “roof anomaly” pre-dated the alleged storm event.
Plaintiff’s theme was to argue that “if you don’t look for it, you won’t find it.” In closing, Mr. Serrano held a stack of nearly 1,000 photos taken between the field adjuster and the Defendant’s expert in the air and argued that this is what “looking for it looks like.” Even the Plaintiff’s expert could not produce any photographic proof that any of the delaminated shingles were creased, or that any of the marred shingles were delaminated. After 70 minutes, the jury returned a verdict finding that all of Plaintiff’s claimed roof damages, including the bullet hole, were excluded from coverage.
Somewhere, there is a smoking gun…
David J. Salmon is a founding partner in the law firm of Salmon and Salmon, P.A. His Florida practice dates back to litigating Hurricane Andrew claims. He practices civil litigation, with his primary focus on first party insurance litigation, claims investigation and evaluation of coverage issues in property claims. He is also a certified insurance instructor. You can reach him at the firm’s Tampa office at 813-849-7200 or by email at [email protected]
LMA Newsletter of 7-28-25
