Attorney John Tolley along with co-counsel Joshua Brownlee, Paralegal Carolyn Parish and SFR Services Corporate Representative Michelle Huey represented SFR Services in Lee County against Heritage Insurance Company.
Attorney John Tolley of JT Law Firm secured back to back favorable Jury Verdicts. This time the jury found in favor of Mr. Tolley’s client in Lee County, Florida on October 14, 2021. Mr. Tolley was representing SFR Services LLC a general contractor who was working with the homeowner to attempt to have the roof repaired following damage due to Hurricane Irma. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Tolley’s client for a full and complete roof replacement in the amount of $87,888.95 against Defendant Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Company.
The verdict concluded over a 2-year long journey through highly contested litigation. The Defendant is a large insurance provider who denied this homeowner’s insurance claim and used aggressive litigation tactics. The insurance company refused to pay the homeowner or the contractor for any damages they indicated were caused by Hurricane Irma. Even though in its initial investigation the insurance company’s own adjuster found that more than 25% of the roof was damaged and he observed numerous damages on the roof. Instead, the insurance company continued to deny the case based on lack of prompt notice. While the insureds took two years to make the claim they had indicated they were not roofers or contractors and didn’t realize that 61.6% of the roof was damaged due to debonding and uplift damages. The Plaintiff’s expert indicated that it would be impossible for the homeowners to see this without first going on the roof. Moreover, the policy said that the homeowners have three years to make a hurricane claim. The insurance company continued to argue they were prejudiced by this delay because they couldn’t determine what happened. However, after 2 years of litigation for the first time in the history of the case they sent out an engineer and roofer who miraculously came to the opinion that the roof was not damaged just 30 days before the jurors were sworn in.
The jury was able to see past the insurance company’s “excuses” and find for the homeowners!
Attorney John Tolley is JT Law Firm’s lead trial counsel. This case was his 46th jury trial and 6th of 2021. Join us in congratulating him and the rest of the team on this remarkable victory.
