An insurer is asking a federal court to void a $29 million Hurricane Ian claim it says was deliberately delayed and fraudulently inflated.
The Princeton Excess and Surplus Lines Insurance Company filed the action on March 26, 2026, in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Aspen FM, LLC, the owner of an apartment complex in Fort Myers, Florida. According to the filing, Aspen waited 728 days after Hurricane Ian made landfall before notifying Princeton of the loss – submitting its claim just three days before the statutory deadline under Florida law.
What makes this case stand out is not just the delay. Princeton alleges that during those two years, Aspen was anything but idle. According to the filing, Aspen’s representatives walked the property shortly after the September 28, 2022 storm and observed damage to screens, landscaping, and roofs. Between late September and mid-December 2022, Aspen documented more than 46 hurricane-related repairs. It retained a contractor, Restore Masters, LLC, to assess damages as early as December 2022 and brought in multiple public adjusters. By March 2024, Aspen had in hand an estimate from Restore Masters totaling $29,173,704.13 in replacement cost value…