Law360, New York ( May 16, 2016, 11:49 AM EDT) -- Texas hail season is in full swing and the courts are giving insureds (and their prospective attorneys) a lot to think about when it comes to turning in those claims. The eagerly awaited decision by the Fifth Circuit in Hamilton Properties v. American Insurance Co. was handed down on April 14, affirming the decision by Northern District of Texas's Judge Jane Boyle that an insured's delay of 19 months in turning in its hail claim relieved American Insurance Co. of its coverage obligations under the property policy.[1] But while insurance lawyers on both sides of the docket were waiting with bated breath for that opinion, Judge George Kazen from the Southern District of Texas appeared to go another way in Herrera v. State Farm Lloyds with his opinion issued on March 18, finding that a delay of almost two years did not prejudice an insurer and thus did not relieve the insurer of its coverage obligations. Upon further inspection, however, Herrera is right in line with Hamilton and the other recent cases and stands as a message for insureds that late notice stands to be a significant hurdle to obtaining coverage under a property policy....