Tred R. Eyerly | Insurance Law Hawaii
The Florida Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s granting summary judgment to the insurer after failing to abide by an assignment to which it was not a party. Expert Inspections, LLC v. United Property & Cas. Ins. Co., 2022 Fla. App. LEXIS 88 (Fla. Ct. App. Jan. 5, 2022).
The insured’s property sustained damage from Hurricane Irma resulting in a covered loss. The insured retained Expert Inspections to perform mold-related services. As payment, the insured assigned her policy benefits pursuant to an assignment of benefits agreement. Under the agreement, the insured agreed to cooperate with the assignee to ensure that payments were made by the insurer upon completion of work. The insured gave authority to the assignee to endorse any checks with her name listed on the check.
Expert submitted a claim to the insurer with a copy of the assignment agreement and an invoice for $1,995.00. The insurer issued a check for the invoice payable to both Expert and the insured, sending the check to the insured’s home address. A year later, Expert filed suit for breach of contract against the insurer.
The insurer deposited the fund with the clerk of court. The insurer also noted that it offered to re-issued the check in exchange for Expert’s dismissal of the lawsuit. The insurer then answered the complaint with affirmative defenses that Expert was not entitled to attorneys fees because Expert was not forced to initiate litigation.
The parties filed competing motions for summary judgment. The court granted the insurer’s motion for summary judgment and denied Expert’s motion. Because there was no dispute as to Expert’s entitlement to the $1,995.00, the court found that Expert was entitled to the funds in the court registry.
On appeal, Expert argued there was a breach of the insurance policy because the insurer did not abide by the instructions listed in the assignment. The court rejected this argument because the insurer could not reach an agreement to which it had no privity. While the assignment granted Expert the right to enforce the policy, it did not grant Expert the right to enforce against the insurer terms from the assignment that were extraneous to the policy itself. The insured’s failure to either forward the check to Expert or to notify the insurer of the insured’s disagreement with the manner of payment could not be attributed to the insurer who was not put on notice by its insured of any disagreement regarding the manner of payment.
Therefore, the trial court was affirmed for property granting summary judgment to the insurer.
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