A Florida court has ruled the owner of a home damaged by Hurricane Irma could not sue the property's insurer where the mortgagee was the named insured under the policy and the property owner was listed only as the borrower.

The Case

Roger Ulloa sued Integon National Insurance Co. as the owner of the Miami property mortgaged to Financial Freedom, a division of CIT Bank N.A. The lawsuit said Financial Freedom was the named insured under an insurance policy issued by Integon, the property was damaged on Sept. 10, 2017, and he reported the loss to Integon with a request to pay for the damage.

Integon moved to dismiss.

Ulloa opposed the motion. He conceded he was not the named insured under the Integon insurance policy but argued that, as the owner of the property, he had an insurable interest that gave him standing as a third-party beneficiary.

In addition, Ulloa contended he was not seeking relief for himself but rather was seeking to protect the interests of Financial Freedom by seeking to enforce the promise that Integon made to Financial Freedom to pay Financial Freedom for damage to the property.

Finally, he argued there was a loss payee provision in the policy that contemplated an intention to benefit his interests: