The Third District Court of Appeal in Florida has upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss a homeowner’s lawsuit against Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, citing the plaintiff’s failure to timely report damage from Tropical Storm Eta. The ruling underscores the importance of prompt insurance claims and the burden policyholders face when trying to prove damages after significant delays.
The case involves Thomas A. Bouchard Jr., a homeowner in Key West, who claimed that his property sustained damage during Tropical Storm Eta on Nov. 8, 2020. According to court records, Bouchard noticed water leaking from his roof on the day of the storm but waited more than 13 months – until December 22, 2021 – to file a claim with Citizens Property Insurance.
Citizens denied his claim, citing a failure to report the loss in a timely manner, which impaired their ability to assess the damages. The company asserted that this delay resulted in presumed prejudice against their ability to investigate and determine the cause of damage. In April 2022, Bouchard sued Citizens for breach of contract, arguing that his delay was justified.
Under Florida law, insurance policies generally require policyholders to provide “prompt notice” of damages to ensure proper investigation. Courts have established that a significant delay in filing a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the insurance company was prejudiced by the delay.
At the heart of Bouchard’s case was his attempt to challenge this presumption of prejudice. He submitted an affidavit from a licensed engineer, prepared two-and-a-half years after the storm, stating that Tropical Storm Eta caused the damage to his home. However, the trial court found the affidavit to be conclusory and unsupported by evidence demonstrating that the damage was not caused by other weather events.
During hearings, the court also considered an engineering report submitted by Bouchard, but it similarly failed to establish why the damages were definitively linked to Tropical Storm Eta. The court noted that multiple storms, including Hurricane Ian in 2022, had affected the Lower Florida Keys between the time of the alleged damage and the inspection.
Given these factors, the trial court ruled in favor of Citizens Property Insurance, granting a motion for summary judgment and dismissing Bouchard’s lawsuit.
Bouchard appealed the decision, arguing that the trial court had erred in ruling that he failed to rebut the presumption of prejudice. He relied heavily on a case from Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, Shapiro v. First Protective Insurance Co., where an affidavit successfully established that Hurricane Irma caused specific damages to a property.
However, the appellate court found Bouchard’s case distinguishable. Unlike Shapiro, where the expert affidavit explained why the damage was unlikely to have resulted from other storms, Bouchard’s engineer provided no analysis of alternative causes. The court emphasized that simply stating that storm damage was "consistent with" a particular event does not sufficiently demonstrate that no other factors were responsible.
|
Hurricane |
Year |
Estimated Damage (in billions) |
|---|---|---|
|
Hurricane Milton |
2024 |
$160–$180 |
|
Hurricane Ian |
2022 |
$112 |
|
Hurricane Irma |
2017 |
$59.5 |
|
Hurricane Andrew |
1992 |
$55.9 |
|
Hurricane Michael |
2018 |
$29 |
|
Hurricane Wilma |
2005 |
$27.9 |
On Feb. 19, 2025, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the lower court’s ruling, concluding that Bouchard failed to provide adequate evidence to overcome the presumption of prejudice caused by his late reporting.
The ruling serves as a cautionary tale for homeowners seeking to file insurance claims for weather-related damages. It reinforces the necessity of reporting damages promptly and highlights the evidentiary challenges of linking property damage to specific storms after extended periods of time.
For insurance companies, the decision affirms that courts will uphold policy provisions requiring timely notice and that they are not obligated to cover claims where the delay has hindered their ability to assess damages.
Bouchard has not announced whether he will seek further appeals. Meanwhile, insurance experts suggest that Florida homeowners should take this case as a reminder to document storm-related damages immediately and report them without delay to avoid similar legal pitfalls.
