Some Florida policyholders and their attorneys have long complained about real or perceived delays in the claims-handling process after a loss. A Florida appeals court ruled last week that telling a jury about those delays may be prejudicial and out of bounds in a claims dispute lawsuit.
“The essential question was whether the insured complied with the required document production. Yet throughout trial, the insured’s counsel suggested the insurer was slow or incompetent in processing the claim,” Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeals wrote in the June 4 opinion in Universal Property & Casualty Insurance