This is a court’s written decision. The judges had the claim file in front of them, and where they quote the insurer’s denial language, that quotation is part of the official record of the case.
Everything quoted below is read off that document. The reading of what it means for each side is ours, and it is marked as such.
| Case | Bouchard v. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation |
|---|---|
| Court | Florida Third District Court of Appeal |
| Citation | No. 3D23-2202 |
| Decided | February 19, 2025 |
| Who is involved | A Key West homeowner and Citizens, Florida's state-backed insurer of last resort. |
| What happened | Citizens denied the claim for late notice. The trial court granted Citizens summary judgment, and the Third DCA affirmed. |
| Where | Key West, Monroe County, Florida |
| When | Loss November 8, 2020 (Tropical Storm Eta). Proof of loss submitted December 22, 2021, over 13 months later. Denied February 15, 2022. |
| Why it came out that way | Florida law presumes an insurer is prejudiced by late notice. The presumption can be rebutted, and the homeowner did not rebut it. |
| The holding | Affirmed for Citizens. |
Our reading of the document above, not the court's words.
For the insurance company
Late notice is the cheapest defense an insurer has, because it does not require any argument about the damage. Once notice is late enough, Florida hands the insurer a presumption of prejudice and the burden flips entirely onto the policyholder.
For the homeowner
The reason for the delay was real and sympathetic, and it made no difference. The court needed evidence that the delay did not harm the investigation, not an explanation of why the delay happened.
- 1 Report the loss when you see the damage, not when your life settles down. This homeowner saw leaks during the storm.
- 2 If notice is already late, the fight is prejudice, not excuse. Preserve anything that shows the insurer could still investigate: photos from the time, unrepaired conditions, contractor records.
- 3 Florida now sets the deadline by statute at 1 year for notice and 18 months for a supplemental claim (Fla. Stat. 627.70132).
Bouchard v. Citizens Prop. Ins. Corp., No. 3D23-2202 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb. 19, 2025) Read the document ↗
Case summaries are drafted from the document and have not been reviewed by counsel; verify against the current docket before relying on any of it. Not legal advice; consult an attorney about your specific claim.
The Third DCA block-quoted this Citizens letter in full, which makes it one of the cleanest specimens in the library: two independent grounds in two sentences, insufficient evidence of a storm loss, and prejudice from late reporting. Either one alone can carry a denial; together they force the policyholder to win twice.
The homeowner reported the Key West wind loss 13.5 months after Tropical Storm Eta, and Florida law did the rest: untimely notice creates a rebuttable presumption that the carrier was prejudiced, and the court found the policyholder’s engineer affidavit too conclusory to rebut it. The lesson is procedural and unforgiving. Late reporting hands the carrier a defense that has nothing to do with what the wind actually did, and generic expert language cannot buy it back; only specific, dated, address-level evidence can. Report first, argue later.
Bouchard v. Citizens Prop. Ins. Corp., No. 3D23-2202 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb. 19, 2025) · public record ↗
Quotes are verbatim from the cited public record. Case status and statute summaries drafted August 2026; verify against the current docket and statute. Not legal advice; consult an attorney about your specific claim.
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