Gloria Estefan. Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock.com

Gloria Estefan must regret the day she heard of the Palm Court Resort Hotel.

The four-time Grammy Award winner and her producer-husband Emilio Estefan purchased the luxury oceanfront resort through their Pin-Pon Corp., only to see it heavily damaged by two hurricanes that struck in the hyperactive 2004 season.

The company has been locked in insurance litigation ever since, and the Fourth District Court of Appeal on Wednesday subtracted from a $5.64 million judgment based on a pretrial stipulation.

The panel rejected Pin-Pon's attempt to back out of a stipulation limiting Landmark American Insurance Co.'s coverage for building code upgrades to $2.5 million. The company wrote an excess commercial property insurance policy to kick in after Lexington Insurance Co.'s primary policy.

The owner of the renamed Costa d'Este Beach Resort & Spa in Vero Beach asked to withdraw the code upgrade cap offered in the first trial before a retrial, arguing it misinterpreted the policy. Indian River Circuit Judge Paul Kanarek agreed.

But the Fourth DCA said the standard of review for withdrawing a stipulation was abuse of discretion, and it didn't find any.

“While the trial court was not bound by the legal stipulation, Pin-Pon's purported mistake of law (or subsequent change in its interpretation of the policy) is not good cause for withdrawal from its factual stipulation,” Judge Alan Forst wrote for a unanimous panel. The company “should have remained bound to the factual stipulation.”

For its part, Landmark argued it should be credited with $906,470 in previous payments, but Forst wrote its stipulation to $698,774 was binding. Kanarek set the credit at $651,278.

Stephen A. Marino Jr., managing shareholder of Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin in Miami, represented Pin-Pon in both trials and appeals. Curtis Miner of Colson Hicks Eidson in Coral Gables also represented the company.

In a statement, Marino said, “We are very pleased that Pin-Pon's long saga to get its insurer to cover the 2004 hurricane damages is finally coming to an end with the insurer being compelled to pay millions in code upgrade damages, as well as attorney's fees and costs.”

The case was remanded for a reduced award of $2.5 million minus the previous payment for a net award of about $1.9 million. The interest calculation is expected to add about $1 million to the final judgment.

After getting hit by Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, Pin-Pon rebuilt the hotel while negotiating with its insurance carriers. It repaired the property, upgraded to meet the latest building code requirements and reopened in 2008.

The first trial ended in 2012 with a $7 million award, including damages for building damage and business interruption. A retrial was ordered only on the amount of code upgrades to be assessed against Landmark, and the retrial ended in 2017 with the $5.6 million award.

Landmark was represented by Hinda Klein of Conroy Simberg in Hollywood and Lauren Levy of Levy Law Group in Coral Gables. They did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.