Understanding your burden of proof is vital. The burden of proof goes to what a party NEEDS to prove to satisfy or prove the claims or defenses asserted. It’s need-to-know when litigating and trying a case (whether in court or arbitration).
The insurance coverage dispute of Valer v. Citizens Property Insurance Corp., 50 Fla.L.Weekly D126a (Fla. 3d DCA 2025), discusses an insured and insurer’s burden of proof in an insurance coverage dispute with an all risk property insurance policy, which is a property insurance policy that covers all losses except those losses that are excluded in the policy.
The insured’s initial burden of proof is to prove that the property suffered a loss while the property insurance policy was in effect. See Valer, supra. Once the insured satisfies this burden, the burden of proof then shifts to the insurer to prove that the claimed loss falls under a policy exclusion in the property insurance policy. Id.
In Valer, the trial court applied the wrong burden of proof incorrectly believing the insured needed to disprove an exclusion. The trial court was wrong. An insured does not have an initial burden of proof to disprove an exclusion. That burden falls on the insurer.
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