L-R: Stuart Sobel, Susan C. Odess, and Helio De La Torre of Siegfried Rivera. Courtesy photos

A condominium association on Miami's exposed Brickell Key won its lawsuit against its former property insurer for denying coverage on a Hurricane Irma damage claim.

U.S. Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami on Wednesday entered a $2.4 million final judgment after a jury on June 4 issued a verdict in favor of St. Louis Condominium Association Inc.

The jury awarded $3.67 million verdict, but nearly $360,000 in damage claimed by the association existed before the hurricane. The judgment noted the association's policy had a $945,342 deductible. The combination reduced the judgment to $2.4 million.

St. Louis sued Rockhill Insurance Co. in March 2018 for failing to pay for covered damage and failing to make a decision on coverage within the required 90 days.

“Clearly, the jury found the initial demand was unreasonable and included damage not covered under the policy,” Rockhill spokesman Kyle Anderson said by email Thursday. “While we're considering an appeal, we remain committed to standing by our customers by paying what we owe and will continue to fight against claims far exceeding that threshold.”

Rockhill, a subsidiary of State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co., noted the jury award was much less than the $16 million estimated by the condominium's public adjuster, GlobalPro Recovery Inc.

Still, the judgment is good news for the association since it stood to get nothing from its insurer, said Stuart Sobel, who was part of the Siegfried Rivera team representing the association.

“I believe in juries, and I am pretty pleased with the results. In light of the alternative where the insurance company basically said, 'We are not paying any money.' They said we suffered no damage form Hurricane Irma,” Sobel said.

He said the hurricane churned in the condominium's vicinity for 24 hours. The building sits on Biscayne Bay east of downtown Miami.

Sobel worked on the case with Siegfried Rivera's Susan Odess and Helio De La Torre, all shareholders based in Coral Gables.

They will appeal both the $360,000 pre-existing damages determination for lack of testimony and the $945,000 deductible, Sobel said. Florida law requires insurers to specify deductibles by dollar value, but the policy specified it as a percentage of the total insured value, Sobel said.

About 134 St. Louis units were damaged by Irma, which made landfall in the Florida Keys on Sept. 10, 2017, as a Category 3 storm before moving up the peninsula.

The association filed its suit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court for breach of contract, but Rockhill removed the case to federal court.

Rockhill insured the condo community at 800 Claughton Island Drive in 2017, according to St. Louis and Rockhill court filings.

The insurer filed a counterclaim against the association in April 2018. The insurer maintained some of the association's claims not covered, some of the damage was pre-existing, the association didn't give prompt notice and descriptions of damage. It also argued the association was difficult to work with, at times denying and delaying inspections of the property and records.

The association said it was Rockhill that didn't cooperate and meet its duties.

St. Louis argued Rockhill waived its right to claim the association barred inspections because it failed to do “any meaningful investigation for months following the loss,” according to a court filing.

Daniel Odess, president of the association's public adjuster GlobalPro, said in a recent interview that the association was accommodating in providing access to the property to Rockhill. GlobalPro hired an engineering firm and a building consultant to help with the claim.

“With their information we worked directly with the insurance company in an effort to facilitate inspections, access to property, damages to demonstrate the insured's loss. Unfortunately here, there was not a tremendous amount of cooperation by Rockhill and despite all of their efforts to ignore the claim, we were persistent,” Odess said.