Sinkhole victims: Summer Bay reneging on promise to pay for losses

Article Courtesy of Orlando Sentinel

By Stephen Hudak

Published September 4, 2013

  

Vacationers who narrowly escaped the sinkhole collapse of villas at the Summer Bay Resort near Walt Disney World say the time-share company is reneging on promises to reimburse them for losses of thousands of dollars in personal property.

 

"They told us they'd make us whole," said Maggie Ghamry, who fled the crumbling condominium Aug. 11 with a friend, three toddlers and little more than the swimsuits they were wearing. "This isn't making us whole."

  

Ghamry, a graphic designer and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitor from Gainesville, Va., received a letter Monday signed by Summer Bay CEO and President Paul Caldwell indicating the company will not pay for personal-property losses, despite a public pledge to do so.

   
"It's definitely blind-sided us," said Ghamry, who received $1,400 from Summer Bay but listed sinkhole losses in electronics, designer bags and clothing totaling $10,000, including a camera and lenses; a laptop computer; two iPads; and Coach and Louis Vuitton handbags.

  

The resort has no obligation under Florida law to replace items lost in the sinkhole, the letter said. "We have, however, learned that such losses might be recoverable under an owner or guest's Although many homeowner policies cover personal property losses due to fire, theft and other vacation "perils," coverages vary from company to company and state to state, said Robert H. Jerry, dean of the University of Florida Levin College of Law and an expert in insurance law.

  
"There also are exclusions that kick in," he said.

 
No one was injured when the sinkhole opened at the resort in the Four Corners area of Lake County. About three dozen people, many clad in pajamas, were evacuated from the villas on the 300-acre property. Some guests say they lost wallets with cash and credit cards, theme-park tickets, passports, mobile phones, cameras, car keys and computers.

 
Speaking to reporters after the collapse, Caldwell said the resort specialized in hospitality and would make its guests "whole."

  
"No one will suffer any economic loss," he said at the time. "There are some inconveniences to their vacation, which sickens us, but, believe us, we are doing everything to make this be a special vacation." Caldwell did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

  
Krystal French of New Jersey, who escaped through a window from a top-floor villa with her fiancee and 10-month-old son, said she received $3,000 from Summer Bay but the check did not cover all her losses. She estimated the total at more than $4,500, including a video camera with a recording of her son's birth.

 
"They also offered me a week free [at the resort]," she said. "I don't want to go back there."

 
Ghamry and French said they cannot collect from their homeowners' policies because neither has protection from sinkholes, a risk in Florida but not in Virginia or New Jersey.

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