“This is primarily going to affect victims of Hurricane Ivan,” said Sam Miller, executive vice president of the Florida Insurance Council, an industry group. “But anyone whose home was destroyed by flood (in 2004) will also be affected.”

Following the 2004 hurricane season, nearly 49,000 homes — including 10,250 in Collier, Lee and Charlotte counties — were destroyed. Many homeowners challenged when insurance companies refused to pay for flood damage. They brought their cases to court.

In 2005, lawmakers changed the statute at the behest of the insurance industry to state that insurers are only responsible for damages from sources outlined in their policies.

Thursday’s action dealt specifically with an Escambia County man whose home was destroyed when Ivan struck the Panhandle in September 2004. Eugene Cox sought $117,000 in damages to his home."

The above is from a Naplesnews.com article written by Michael Peltierclick here to read it.

The below is from a miamiherald.com article.

Two Florida Supreme Court rulings released Thursday could dramatically curb liability for insurers, allowing them to pay only actual losses from a covered peril, such as a hurricane or a fire, even if a home is totally destroyed.

The decisions overturned appellate court rulings that let homeowners whose homes were a total loss collect the policy value on their windstorm policies even though some of the damage might have been caused by flooding.

One of the rulings -- Florida Farm Bureau v. Cox -- will most likely decide the fate of hundreds of lawsuits pending against numerous private insurers and Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run insurance pool.

Stuart Michelson, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who is representing homeowners in a class-action lawsuit, said ``this ruling will do away with almost every case in this class against Citizens.''

He said there are some 300 homeowners in the class, with suits stemming from the 2004 hurricanes -- Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.

Michelson wasn't involved in the two cases decided by the state high court Thursday. But he had won a 2004 case in the Fourth District Court of Appeals in Broward County, which led to the cases that eventually made their way to the state's highest court.

The 2004 case stemmed from a 1999 lawsuit filed by Fort Lauderdale homeowner Zennon Mierzwa. In that case, the court decided that both flood and wind policies should pay the full policy limits if homes are declared a total loss.

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