A Florida appeals court has reversed an earlier ruling and held singer Gloria Estefan’s company is not entitled to recover $5.6 million from an American International Group Inc. unit in connection with hurricane damage to a hotel she owns with her husband.
The issue in the long-running litigation in Landmark American Insurance Co. v. Pin-Pon Corp. was whether Landmark, an AIG unit, was required to pay for upgrades to the Vero Beach hotel that were planned before hurricanes Frances and Jeanne struck in 2004.
A Florida state court in Vero Beach ruled the hotel was entitled to the $5.6 million in December 2017.
In its Wednesday ruling reversing that judgment, the West Palm Beach, Florida-based appeals court focused on a pretrial stipulation in which Pin-Pon had agreed the Landmark policy coverage was limited to $2.5 million for code upgrade costs per hurricane. In accordance with the stipulation, the ruling said, Pin-Pon agreed to seek $2.5 million for each hurricane.
Pin-Pon subsequently moved to withdraw this stipulation, “arguing it had misinterpreted the insurance policy. The trial court apparently accepted the withdrawal,” before awarding the company the $5.6 million judgment in connection with Hurricane Frances, said the ruling.
“Pin-Pon’s purported mistake of law (or subsequent change in its interpretation of the policy) is not good cause for withdrawal for its factual stipulation … Therefore, it should have remained bound to the factual stipulation,” said the appeals court.
It reversed and remanded the $5.6 million judgment for a reduction in Landmark’s liability to $2.5 million, less $698,774.31 it has already paid, and a recalculation of pre- and post-judgment interest.
In another insurance coverage case involving the couple, in 2018 Great American Insurance Co. prevailed in a dispute with them over property damage to a Miami Beach restaurant they owned, with a federal district court ruling coverage was precluded by policy language.
Great American Insurance Co. has prevailed in a dispute with singer Gloria Estefan and her husband over property damage to a Miami Beach restaurant owned by the couple, with a federal district court ruling coverage was precluded by policy language.