In Serrano v. Citizens Property Insurance Corp., 368 So.3d 1064 (Fla. 3d DCA 2023), the Third District considered a first-party property dispute in which the insureds appealed a final summary judgment rendered in favor of their insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. The insureds filed a complaint seeking payment for a water-related loss under an all-risk homeowner’s policy. Citizens moved for summary judgment under Florida’s so-called “old” summary judgment standard. In so moving, Citizens failed to produce affidavits or other sworn proof establishing the claim was not covered or excluded under the policy. 

Given this procedural deficiency, the Third District felt constrained to reverse the judgment and remand for further proceedings. See Star Lakes Ests. Ass’n, Inc. v. Auerbach, 656 So. 2d 271, 274 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995) (quoting Holl v. Talcott, 191 So. 2d 40, 43-44 (Fla. 1966)) (“[T]he movant … has the initial burden to prove that there are no genuine, triable issues of material fact in dispute, `and the burden of proving the existence of such issues is not shifted to the opposing party until the movant has successfully met this burden.’”); see also Sec. First Ins. Co. v. Czelusniak, 305 So. 3d 717, 718 (Fla. 3d DCA 2020) (citation omitted) (“[W]ith an all-risk policy, the insured is only required to prove that damage occurred during the policy period. Subsequently, the burden shifts to the insurer to prove that one of the policy exclusions bars coverage.”); B & S Assocs., Inc. v. Indem. Cas. & Prop., Ltd., 641 So. 2d 436, 437 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994) (reversing summary judgment order where insurer did not meet its burden to prove that coverage was excluded under all-risk policy).

It is important to have an aggressive lawyer on your side. Citizens habitually files “boilerplate” motions for summary judgment that are not supported by any evidence. You need a lawyer who is experienced and ready to fight for you. Busy judges rely on the lawyers to lead them through the applicable legal standards. Aggressive insurance defense lawyers sometimes trick judges into “weighing the evidence,” which essentially means they usurp the jury’s role as a fact-finder. At the summary judgment stage, it is not the judge’s role to decide whether he likes the case. There are procedural standards that must be adhered to. Jeff Donner has survived literally dozens–close to 100, probably–of these motions for summary judgment filed by Citizens against his clients.