Tampa Sinkhole Attorney

While they are uncommon elsewhere in the nation, sinkholes regularly appear on the Florida landscape and can be found throughout the Tampa area – in fact, Florida accounts for the vast majority of American sinkholes, and the majority of Floridian sinkholes occur in west central Florida and the Tampa region. With such an unusual concentration of sinkholes in the urban Tampa area, it is no wonder that property damage from sinkholes is constantly escalating and recovery from insurance companies is becoming more convoluted; likewise it is no surprise that many residents experiencing property damage from sinkholes seek the advice of a knowledgeable Tampa sinkhole attorney to assist in the recovery process.

The current climate of Florida sinkhole law has been made even more difficult for Tampa homeowners to navigate by the governor’s signing of Bill 408 – this new law, approved in August, 2011, is presumably aimed at reforming property and casualty insurance but in reality enables insurance companies to increase rates by as much as 2000 percent on policyholders in sinkhole prone regions such as Tampa in response to escalating sinkhole payouts in recent years. Sadly, this increase will almost certainly result in countless Tampa homeowners electing to go without sinkhole insurance despite the fact that they live in areas that are extremely prone to sinkholes. Furthermore, Bill 408 also creates “neutral” sinkhole damage evaluation procedures that can hardly be considered “neutral” to homeowners and that further confuse and intensify the climate of Florida sinkhole litigation.

Sinkholes are naturally occurring geological features that are the product of the unique “karst” topography that exists just below the surface of virtually all of Florida’s land – “karst” topography refers to soft limestone terrain that has become eroded and weathered by the elements, resulting in cavities, voids, pinnacles, columns, and other distinctive geological formations. When this happens above ground, the result is often very beautiful, as in the wonderful and mysterious Stone Forest of southern China or the monolithic massifs of the French Pyrenees. Underground karst topographies are often equally as beautiful as their above ground counterparts, as seen in the incredible Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico and the Mammoth Caves of Kentucky, forming huge underground halls that have been carved over millions of years by water’s naturally erosive properties. Unfortunately, the karst topography underlying the Tampa area creates no majestic caverns, no picturesque stalagmites, and no beautiful travertine; instead, it only creates the devastation of sinkholes. Residents of Tampa unsuspectingly build homes and offices on top of karst formations that after time become so eroded from the natural flow of groundwater they can no longer support the weight of the home or office above them, and the inevitable collapse results in the sinkhole that swallows up everything above it.

Sinkholes can open up in a Tampa neighborhood with no warning and grow to forty and even sixty feet wide in a matter of hours. Stories about sinkholes causing unbelievable damage have become commonplace in the Tampa area. In July, 2010 a 10 foot deep sinkhole near the University of South Florida campus in Tampa opened up and swallowed a Toyota Camry and forced the evacuation of 11 families living in an adjacent apartment building. In 2004 part of the elevated Lee Roy Selmon Expressway running through central Tampa collapsed when one of the piers supporting the roadway sank 11 feet into the earth below a suspected sinkhole. In September, 2011 an eight foot deep sinkhole formed in the middle of a busy north Tampa intersection; less than two weeks later in October another sinkhole, this one six feet wide, formed in the middle of busy east Tampa intersection.

While these Tampa sinkhole stories always make the local news, the countless stories of Tampa home and business owners whose personal property is devoured by sinkholes is less well known. What happens after their property is destroyed – the insurance claims, the geological studies, the engineering surveys, the insurance claim rejections, the lawsuits – never makes the nightly news, but the wrangling these Tampa residents are forced to go through with their insurance companies in order to fully recover from a sinkhole disaster is newsworthy to say the least.

For example, in 2004 a Tampa family owning four apartment buildings sued their insurance company, a national home insurer, for refusing to honor the family’s claim for damage to the buildings that resulted from a sinkhole. Specifically the family sought payment for the costs to repair damage caused by the sinkhole to the exterior walls of the buildings, the interior of the buildings (such as drywall), and the foundation slabs of the buildings, repairs that would be covered under their policy. However, the insurance company refused to pay for these repairs until they were ordered to do so by a trial court, claiming that the policy did not cover “subsurface” damage to structural items such as foundation slabs. Even after the trial awarded the family nearly $550,000, the insurance company appealed, claiming that the amounts awarded by the trial court were unjustifiable based on engineering requirements, and they should accordingly have to pay the family far less. In the end, the appeals court upheld the trial court’s decision, and the family came away with nearly $550,000. This case illustrates perfectly the legal issues that can come up in what seems to be a straightforward insurance claim – the family had insured their property and had expected to be paid for damages in accordance with the sinkhole provisions of their policy, only to be completely blindsided by an insurance company that does not want to pay. With the services of a knowledgeable Tampa sinkhole lawyer, this family was able to recover, but there are countless others that have attempted to negotiate with insurance companies on their own, only to be left tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Tampa residents need to be aware of their rights when it comes to sinkhole damage and sinkhole insurance. Florida legislators have passed laws that require insurers to follow a very specific protocol when investigating a claim. Florida Statute § 627.707 lays out the procedure for insure companies, mandating insurance company actions such as the hiring of professional geologists or engineers to determine the cause of structural damage that might be caused by a suspected sinkhole, the notification of the policyholder as to their rights with respect to sinkhole investigation, and developing a procedure for remediating a sinkhole damaged structure. Other sinkhole insurance statutes require that all property insurers in the state of Florida must provide insurance for “catastrophic ground cover collapse,” a category that includes sinkholes. Failure on behalf of the insurer to comply with Florida law with respect to sinkhole investigation and other sinkhole insurance laws is prohibited. As many Tampa residents know, however, insurance companies aren’t always the most scrupulous businesses, especially when it comes to this increasingly expensive area of sinkhole insurance, and as such any local home or business owner involved in a sinkhole insurance claim is well advised to retain the services of a Tampa sinkhole attorney.

The sinkhole insurance climate in the Tampa area isn’t likely to abate any time soon. With more and more sinkholes opening up on a regular basis, insurance companies are seeing claims skyrocket statewide. In 2009, the state operated Office of Insurance Regulation reported that claims for sinkhole damage had climbed to $409 million; in 2006 sinkhole insurance claims were totaled $209 million. Faced with a $200 million increase payouts to policyholders in only three years, insurance companies are more inclined to enter litigation wherever possible to attempt to reduce their losses. Homeowners that hire a Tampa sinkhole attorney protect themselves from insurance companies that are unlawfully denying justified property damage claims. Bill 408, mentioned above, does little if nothing to protect Florida homeowners by allowing insurance companies to make up for that $200 million increase by dramatically increasing rates on policyholders.

Aware of the challenges facing Tampa sinkhole damage victims, the knowledgeable attorneys at Yesner & Boss P.L. work to stay on the forefront of Tampa sinkhole law. With offices in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Vero Beach, Yesner & Boss P.L. is prepared to work with Tampa residents and citizens across the state of Florida to ensure the best possible outcomes in challenging sinkhole situations.