By The Restoration HQ desk · · filed under Coverage Law
Florida appeals court wipes out a $335K cast-iron pipe verdict for having no basis in evidence
A jury awarded $335,000 RCV / $305,000 ACV on a water-damage claim. The restoration company's estimate was $79,680 RCV / $50,220 ACV; the carrier's plumber pegged repairs near $12,000. The appeals court struck the award as "several times higher than the only admitted valuation evidence", a textbook remittitur, because no testimony supported a number that high.
FORThis is why you build a defensible scope. A clean, expert-backed estimate at $79K survives; a fantasy number gets torn up. Discipline in the estimate is what actually gets paid.
AGAINSTEven the contractor's real estimate got swept away with the inflated verdict. Carriers now have appellate cover to challenge any big water-loss award as "unsupported," and that chills every legitimate large scope.
Consensus vs. contrarianCarrier-side reads this as proof juries hand out fantasy numbers on pipe claims. The operator's version: the problem wasn't the tear-out, it was letting the case rest on a number nobody could tie to a line item. The shops that win these don't argue harder, they scope so tightly that the estimate is the evidence, and there's no daylight for a court to strike.
Sources Insurance Journal, www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2026… (published ). Case: Karmo v. Universal Property & Casualty Insurance, Florida 1st District Court of Appeal, decided 2026-07-23.
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