Kelley Kronenberg Attorney Kimberly Fernandes secured a motion in limine victory on behalf of Florida Insurance Guaranty Association in a Hurricane Sally property damage case filed in Escambia County, leading to the plaintiff settling for a fraction of her claimed damages just two days before trial was set to begin.  

The plaintiff filed suit after disagreeing with the insurer’s payment on a 2020 Hurricane Sally property damage claim, seeking approximately $115,000.00 in additional damages plus interest and attorney’s fees. The case had been pending for more than five years and the plaintiff had gone through three sets of counsel before reaching trial.  

In anticipation of trial the plaintiff disclosed to engineer expert witnesses. One of those experts was stricken by the Court after he was uncooperative in scheduling his deposition and the plaintiff could not make him available for discovery. After all court-ordered discovery deadlines had expired, the plaintiff provided the stricken expert’s opinions to her remaining engineer expert and obtained a new report incorporating those opinions. The new report was disclosed to the defendant on the precipice of trial.  

Kim moved to exclude the new report and any opinions contained in it, arguing that the late disclosure after expired deadlines substantially prejudiced the defendant’s ability to prepare for trial. The Court agreed. In granting the motion, the Court found that permitting the newly disclosed opinions would have required the defendant to evaluate the new report, conduct additional expert discovery, potentially depose or re depose expert witnesses, and possibly retain additional experts to formulate responsive opinions, all after applicable deadlines have long passed, and with jury selection only days away. 

The Court’s ruling reflects the relatively new case management rules implemented under the 2025 amendments to the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, which empower trial judges to enforce scheduling orders strictly and impose significant consequences for non-compliance, including the exclusion of evidence. The Court found prejudice to the defendant was apparent and that no reasonable cure existed without fundamentally disrupting the trial schedule. 

With her expert opinions excluded and no remaining evidence to support her additional damage claims, the plaintiff settled the case for a fraction of the damages sought.  

For more cases recently won by Kimberly Fernandes, click here.  

Learn more about the firm’s First-Party Property and Coverage Division: click here. 

Read our First-Party Property newsletter: https://www.kelleykronenberg.com/category/newsletter/