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Article Courtesy of The Palm
Beach Post
By JANE MUSGRAVE
Published August 21, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — Nearly two years after Hurricane
Wilma blew out windows and buckled walls at the Chalfonte Condominium in
Boca Raton, residents of the 21-story twin towers are still waiting for
their insurance company to pay them for the roughly $13 million they spent
on repairs.
On Monday, they took their dispute with QBE
Insurance Co. to U.S. District Court in hopes a jury will order the
company to make good on the policy, which cost them about $311,000
annually.
Residents of the 378-unit oceanfront condo claim QBE
officials didn't even tell them how much it was willing to pay until
roughly five months ago. And, when insurance officials finally adjusted
the claim in March, they said the condo sustained about $400,000 in
damages - far less than its $1.3 million deductible, said attorney Daniel
Rosenbaum, who is representing the condominium.
The Australia-based company, which does business in
South Florida through Florida Intracoastal Underwriters, provides coverage
to roughly 1,800 condominiums in Florida with a combined insured value of
$33 billion - more than any other insurer in Florida, according to state
records.
As it has in other disputes over hurricane damage,
it claims the condominium exaggerated its losses, replacing windows,
sliding glass doors and other fixtures that could have been repaired.
Last year, it settled a lawsuit with 1515 Tower
south of downtown West Palm Beach for $2.25 million - far less than the
$20 million residents of the beleaguered high-rise were seeking. Residents
accepted the settlement after a mock jury agreed with QBE's claims that
residents had blamed 2004 Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne for long-standing
problems with the building.
In the case involving Chalfonte, Rosenbaum said,
there are no allegations of fraud.
The insurer is claiming that the residents could
have put their building back together for far less money than they spent.
Randall Labadie, a Boynton Beach building contractor
who inspected the building days after the Category 3 storm roared across
the state on Oct. 24, 2005, disagreed.
After reviewing damage in each of the 378 units, he
concluded that the building sustained $9 million in damage. And, he
testified, his estimate didn't include the extra cost of bringing the
roughly 30-year-old towers into compliance with beefed- up building codes.
He estimated that more than half of the 2,766 windows and nearly 80
percent of the 966 sliding glass doors in the two towers needed to be
replaced.
QBE attorneys suggested that it was in Labadie's
best interest to pad repair costs. The public adjuster he was working for
was paid a percentage of the total reconstruction bill.
Labadie agreed that public adjusters receive a
percentage of repair costs. However, he said, he was paid an hourly wage
for his work.
The trial, before Judge Donald Middlebrooks, is
expected to conclude after Labor Day.
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