27 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D174a Insurance — Commercial general liability — Property damage — Subcontractor’s defective construction — Duty to defend — Underlying complaint by developer and contractor alleging subcontractor engaged in various construction defects alleges property damage sufficient to trigger CGL insurer’s duty to defend subcontractor in underlying action where underlying complaint alleges Read More »
Archives for January 2019
Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal — Where insurer has not wholly denied coverage, the issue of causation is an amount-of-loss question subject to appraisal — It is permissible for an appraisal panel to decide causation issues when causation is not a coverage question, but rather an amount-of-loss question — Trial court erred in denying insurer’s motion to compel appraisal
44 Fla. L. Weekly D279a Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal — Where insurer has not wholly denied coverage, the issue of causation is an amount-of-loss question subject to appraisal — It is permissible for an appraisal panel to decide causation issues when causation is not a coverage question, but rather an amount-of-loss question — Trial Read More »
Torts — Legal malpractice — Insurance carrier — Privity — Law firm hired by insurer to defend insured against liability claims — Insurer lacked standing to sue law firm where nothing in evidence indicates that law firm was in privity with insurer or that insurer was an intended third-party beneficiary — Public policy does not dictate that an insurer should be able to pursue legal malpractice claims against defense counsel it retains to represent its insureds and the court is unwilling to expand field of privity exceptions
44 Fla. L. Weekly D269a Torts — Legal malpractice — Insurance carrier — Privity — Law firm hired by insurer to defend insured against liability claims — Insurer lacked standing to sue law firm where nothing in evidence indicates that law firm was in privity with insurer or that insurer was an intended third-party beneficiary Read More »
Torts — Civil procedure — Pleadings — Amendments — Trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion to amend complaint because amendments would have been futile where new negligence claims suffer same notice defects as prior claims, and plaintiff has no viable First Amendment claim because she was speaking as a government employee
44 Fla. L. Weekly D237a Torts — Civil procedure — Pleadings — Amendments — Trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion to amend complaint because amendments would have been futile where new negligence claims suffer same notice defects as prior claims, and plaintiff has no viable First Amendment claim because she Read More »
Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal of loss — By invoking appraisal pursuant to terms of policy, insurer waived compliance with post-loss obligations as condition to appraisal — Trial court properly ordered parties to complete presuit appraisal which had already begun when insurer demanded that insured comply with post-loss obligations
44 Fla. L. Weekly D239b Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal of loss — By invoking appraisal pursuant to terms of policy, insurer waived compliance with post-loss obligations as condition to appraisal — Trial court properly ordered parties to complete presuit appraisal which had already begun when insurer demanded that insured comply with post-loss obligations SAFEPOINT Read More »