Two houses in the same county came out of the same hurricane with water inside them. Both owners filed a claim, both insurers said the cause was wear and tear, and both files reached the same appellate court. One owner ended with a judgment and one ended with nothing. The difference was not the storm or the shingles; it was whether anything in the file said where the wind had made a hole.
Hurricane Irma crossed Florida on September 10, 2017, coming ashore near Cudjoe Key at category 4 and Marco Island at category 3, the National Hurricane Center reported. Both houses sat in Broward County.
One case ended on March 24, 2021, in Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal decision 4D19-3702. The other ended on October 8, 2025, in the same court, numbered 4D2024-0926.
What the record says happened
In the older case the homeowner reported roof damage to Tower Hill Signature Insurance Company. Its field adjuster put the roof at twenty years old or more and saw no openings and no obvious wind damage…