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By JIM SAUNDERS NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
A Miami-Dade appeals court upheld on Wednesday a decision requiring an insurance company for a Miami home to pay damages caused, according to the homeowners of that home, by rock blasting in a nearby quarry. The Third District Court of Appeal’s three-judge panel rejected Tower Hill Prime Insurance Co.’s argument that damage done to Ivet Bermudez and Mario Bermudez home in 2016 was not covered by its policy. Tower Hill appealed after last year’s verdict that said the insurer had to pay $62,000 for damages, such as cracks on the home. Owners sued Tower Hill for breach of contract claiming that damage occurred due to blasting from the quarry. Tower Hill claimed that earth movement was responsible. Tower Hill pointed to the part of their policy which excluded earthworks from coverage. Tower Hill claimed that the damages were not covered by the policy because it excluded damage from earth movements. This was a summary judgment motion filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in 2020. Even if damage to the plaintiff’s property is the result of nearby explosions, it was still caused by Earth Movements. The plaintiffs do not have coverage for the policy.
According to expert testimony, a jury might have been able to conclude that the damage was caused by the shaking of the home and not by the earth or ground moving. This is the conclusion made in the 11-page ruling handed down by the Judge Kevin Emas, with the Judges Ivan Fernandez, Alexander Bokor, and Ivan Fernandez. The decision of Wednesday did not provide many details regarding the damages to the home. Tower Hill filed a summary judgment action in 2020, which stated that owners found cracks on the floor and ceiling as well as the pool wall and entrance. According to documents, the appeals court stated that the focus of the trial was “a narrow question of whether or not the cause of damage at the Bermudezes’ home is excluded from the policy.” Circuit Judge William Thomas, after the Bermudezes won, denied Tower Hill’s request for a so-called “directed verdict,” which would have favored the insurer. The appeals court noted that the expert’s testimony was contradictory and said that the circuit judge had “properly” denied Tower Hill’s motions for a directed verdict, a new trial, or sentencing.
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