Reader’s Question:
I didn’t get entitled for a diminished value claim with my own car insurance policy after I was involved and got hit in an accident here in Palm Beach, Florida caused by another person because of drunk driving. Is there any other way I can be entitled to a diminished value claim?
Hayden
Palm Beach, FL
There’s an exclusion for diminished value claim in the state of Florida if you are making a first-party claim. The Insurance Services Office or sot’s exclusion applies to first-party physical-damage claims. But there is still one other way that you could be entitled to a diminished value claim after you got involved in an accident in Palm Beach, Florida caused by another person because of drunk driving. If the other person hit you, you can make a damage claim on that person’s car insurance. That would be a third-party claim and it would be possible to get diminished value damages as a third party because you don’t have a contract with that insurer.
Moreover, in tort claims, the measure of damage is usually calculated as the difference in value before and after the loss, sometimes making diminished value a viable claim. But there would still be a wide variation among state case law in pinpointing when a third-party claimant is entitled to diminished value.