The Florida Supreme Court ruled that PIP (Personal Injury Protection) insurers may pay 80% of a charge submitted by a provider, even when that reimbursement amount is less than the amount that would be reimbursable under the...more
Am. Coastal Ins. Co. v. San Marco Villas Condo. Ass’n, Inc., SC2021-0883, 2024 WL 369079 (Fla. 2024) - The defendant, San Marco, filed a property claim with its insurer, American Coastal, for damage sustained to its property...more
In Florida, personal injury protection (PIP) coverage limits reimbursement of medical charges to 80% of “all reasonable expenses.” What is “reasonable” is generally determined by a statutory schedule of maximum charges...more
On February 1, 2024, the Supreme Court of Florida issued its opinion in American Coastal Ins. Co. v. San Marco Villas Condominium Ass’n, Inc., 2024 WL 369079 (Fla. 2024), to address a persisting conflict on the timing of...more
Faircloth arose from a November 2014 motor vehicle accident involving a 20-year-old driver who was served alcohol at Potbelly’s bar and an 18-year-old pedestrian who was served alcohol at Cantina 101. The guardianship for the...more
As a dispute-resolution mechanism, appraisal can be an effective means of resolving a valuation dispute between an insurer and its policyholder. Appraisal provisions may include language that allows an insurer to deny a claim...more
What amount of past medical expenses can a plaintiff present to the jury when he or she is a Medicare recipient? The short answer: only the amount of past medical expenses the plaintiff is obligated to pay, not the gross...more
We bring you our March Insurance Update. As college basketball programs embark on the road to the final four, we select our top four insurance cases from the past month. In a dispute over the priority of coverage, the...more
“If you and we fail to agree on the amount of loss, either party can demand that the amount of the loss be set by appraisal. . . . [e]ach party will select a qualified, disinterested appraiser[,]” is a phrase known all too...more
Recently, the Florida Supreme Court resolved an interdistrict conflict between the decision of the Second District Court of Appeal in Suarez Trucking FL Corp. v. Souders, 311 So. 3d 263, 272 (Fla. 2d DCA 2020) and the...more
On April 28, 2022, the Florida Supreme Court issued its decision in Dial v. Calusa Palms Master Association, Inc., which addressed the question: DOES THE HOLDING IN JOERG V. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE CO., 176...more
On February 15, 2022, the United States Court of Appeal for the Eleventh Circuit upheld the Southern District of Florida’s summary judgment victory for GEICO, finding that no reasonable jury could conclude that GEICO had...more
Some Florida practitioners and appellate courts have long pointed to the need to amend the rules of appellate procedure to allow for an interlocutory appeal of an order granting or denying a motion for leave to amend to...more
In Wirley v. Central Florida Young Men’s Christian Association, 228 So.3rd 18 (Florida, 2017), the Supreme Court ruled disclosure of a financial relationship between a party, a plaintiff’s attorney and an expert, is no longer...more
In most circumstances involving an insurer’s extension of coverage for a property loss, an appraisal provision in an insurance policy provides an insured and an insurer a mechanism by which to resolve disagreements regarding...more
Expert witnesses are a critical part of litigation. A good expert can properly assess a case, help position a case for settlement and provide helpful testimony at trial. Like all witnesses, an expert witness’ bias may be...more
Insured gets sued. Insurer hires defense counsel to represent insured. Defense counsel takes over the case, and eventually, the case ends. Most of the time, the carrier and its insured will be satisfied with the result. There...more
The Florida Supreme Court has held that an insurer with a duty to defend and express subrogation rights had standing to bring a malpractice action against an insured’s defense counsel. Arch Ins. Co. v. Kubicki Draper, LLP,...more
The Florida Supreme Court has given the proverbial “green light” for insurance companies to sue attorneys for negligent representation of an insured. Historically, to bring an action against an attorney for legal malpractice...more
Brief Summary - The Supreme Court of Florida held that an insurer has standing, through its contractual subrogation provision, to maintain a malpractice action against defense counsel retained to represent its insured where...more
For purposes of determining contract interpretation, Florida courts apply the lex loci contractus choice-of-law rule. The Supreme Court of Florida observed that lex loci contractus is an “inflexible rule” that exists “to...more
In Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. Manor House, LLC, the Florida Supreme Court recently answered “no” to the following question certified as a matter of “great public importance”...more
Lawyers and insurance industry professionals are undoubtedly familiar with motions for summary judgment. For years, Florida state courts have followed their own summary judgment standard. While similar to the rule followed by...more
In first-party breach of insurance contract actions, the parties oftentimes dispute whether the policyholder may seek damages that are not explicitly provided for in the policy, with the policyholder arguing such indirect...more
On January 21, 2021, the Supreme Court of Florida issued an important decision in Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. Manor House, LLC, et. al., SC19-1394 (Fla. 2021), disallowing an insured to recover extra-contractual,...more