On January 12, 2022, Miami Senior Partner, Jorge Padilla, Esq., secured final summary judgment in a first-party insurance case styled Projekt Property Restoration, Inc., a/a/o Yessenia & Andres Arias v. Defendant Insurance Company. Plaintiff, the assignee of the named insured, made a claim against the insured’s homeowner’s insurance carrier arising out of water damage mitigation services rendered in connection with a loss that reportedly occurred as a result of Hurricane Irma. Defendant denied Plaintiff’s claim due to the absence of any evidence of wind damage to the home.

Seeking substantial damages, including attorney’s fees costs, Plaintiff alleged that the denial of their claim constituted a breach of the insured’s homeowner’s insurance policy. By employing an aggressive discovery approach, Mr. Padilla was able to get Plaintiff’s causation expert stricken pursuant to Daubert.. After securing that ruling, Mr. Padilla filed a motion for final summary judgment. In response to the motion for summary judgment, Plaintiffs argued that there was sufficient circumstantial evidence to create a material issue of fact – issues that were thoroughly briefed by Mr. Padilla and ultimately rejected by the Court. Mr. Padilla is now pursuing a claim for attorney’s fees and costs pursuant to a proposal for settlement that he served early in the litigation.