Case Study 3Expert Witness
For one large real estate company, growth and expansion came with a cost: modified zoning laws that threatened premium insurance costs.
The effort saved the company insurance costs, they knew that in order to succeed in this era of unproven accusations they needed expert help. They turned to Alpha Risk to prove their case.
challenge
A large real estate company purchased a large office building located in a major east coast city:
- The building was leased to a single tenant:
The existing lease required the tenant to pay all Property & Casualty insurance costs “customarily incurred for similar properties”. - The city was modifying its zoning laws:
As this was taking place, the landlord purchased a specialized “Down-zoning policy” which, following a loss, would cover such an event governing the rebuilding to the new code. - The premium cost was passed along to the tenant:
The tenant paid the fee.
solution
In a complaint, the tenant maintained that the premium charge was in reality for a financial guarantee and therefore not chargeable under the lease.
An Alpha Risk principal testified that this was true Property & Casualty insurance as the policy:
- Was specified as “excess property insurance and
- Required an insurable loss to trigger coverage.
results
Based on the depositions, the judge ruled that the charges were indeed valid “based on the expert testimony of (the Alpha Risk principal).”