A Third District Court of Appeal ruling addressing recent updates to Florida's insurance law governing advance written notice could have far-reaching implications costing policyholders serious amounts of money, lawyers said.

At contention in the case was an appraisal that People's Trust Insurance Co. refused to rely upon in order to pay its policyholders a claim of around $172,000. Nakia, Maria, and Anthony Lavadie, the insureds, disputed the payout offered by People's Trust because they said a policy update did not adequately forewarn them of a policy change.

The Third DCA reversed orders granting partial summary judgment in favor of the insureds and remanded the case to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court. In its order, the Third DCA clarified that a change in Florida Statutes now required insurance companies to summarize changes in an insurance policy for contracts issued after 2018 and provide notice of those changes to their insureds. Policies issued in 2018 and earlier are not subject to this disclosure requirement.