45 Fla. L. Weekly D1540b Torts — Settlement agreements — Appeals — Non-final orders — Order denying defendant’s motion to enforce settlement agreement is a non-final, non-appealable order where order did not determine, as a matter of law, that settlement agreement never existed NANCY POWELL and RALEIGH POWELL, Appellants, v. MILDREDA WOODARD, Appellee. 1st District. Read More »
Archives for June 2020
Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal — Trial court erred by granting insureds’ motion to compel arbitration without holding evidentiary hearing to determine whether insureds had complied with post-loss obligation to submit sworn proof of loss that is compliant with policy requirements
45 Fla. L. Weekly D1523a Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal — Trial court erred by granting insureds’ motion to compel arbitration without holding evidentiary hearing to determine whether insureds had complied with post-loss obligation to submit sworn proof of loss that is compliant with policy requirements PEOPLE’S TRUST INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. ORLANDO ORTEGA and Read More »
Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal — Trial court erred in determining that Preferred Contractor Endorsement subjecting scope of work disputes to appraisal is invalid because of insurer’s alleged failure to provide a statutory notice of change in policy terms — Notice of Change in Policy Terms included in policy renewal package was sufficient to provide statutory notice of change — Trial court erred in determining that insurer waived its right to appraisal because of its failure to provide statutory notice of insureds’ right to participate in mediation at the time insureds first filed a claim of loss — When attorneys for insureds signified that the means and costs of repair estimated by parties had ripened into a dispute, insurer gave timely and compliant notice to insureds of their right to participate in mediation under Department of Financial Services program
45 Fla. L. Weekly D1521b Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal — Trial court erred in determining that Preferred Contractor Endorsement subjecting scope of work disputes to appraisal is invalid because of insurer’s alleged failure to provide a statutory notice of change in policy terms — Notice of Change in Policy Terms included in policy renewal Read More »
Torts — Punitive damages — Error to award punitive damages where plaintiff failed to adequately allege and prove both a tort independent from acts that breached contract and non-duplicative damages grounded in tort
45 Fla. L. Weekly D1519b Torts — Punitive damages — Error to award punitive damages where plaintiff failed to adequately allege and prove both a tort independent from acts that breached contract and non-duplicative damages grounded in tort ALF J. AANONSEN, Appellant, v. MICHAEL A. SUAREZ, etc., Appellee. 3rd District. Case Nos. 3D18-2466 & 3D19-0612. Read More »
Insurance — Uninsured/underinsured motorist — Damages — Set-off — Settlement agreements — Trial court erred by denying insurers’ motion to set off from jury verdict the amount of money which the insured received from settlement agreements with two other carriers — With regard to settlement with underinsured motorist’s liability carrier, trial court erred in finding that settlement was intended to solely satisfy insured’s wife’s consortium claim — Settlement release clearly and unambiguously stated that it was only for the insured’s benefit, did not mention insured’s wife, and release’s inclusion of parental and filial consortium claims was not related to any unpled spousal consortium claim as a matter of law — Even if insured and his wife had privately agreed to unilaterally apportion settlement among themselves, the trial court was bound to ignore such private unilateral apportionment when settlement release failed to expressly apportion the proceeds between them — Likewise, settlement agreement with insured’s third UM carrier unambiguously states that it was only for the insured’s benefit — Argument that no Florida statute expressly authorizes one UM carrier to obtain a set-off for duplicate benefits paid by another UM carrier lacks merit — Pursuant to section 627.727, benefits provided under a UM policy cannot duplicate benefits already paid to an insured under another UM policy — Because insured has not disputed that settlement with third UM carrier duplicated jury-determined UM benefits against other insurers, settlement amount must be set off from jury verdict
45 Fla. L. Weekly D1508b Insurance — Uninsured/underinsured motorist — Damages — Set-off — Settlement agreements — Trial court erred by denying insurers’ motion to set off from jury verdict the amount of money which the insured received from settlement agreements with two other carriers — With regard to settlement with underinsured motorist’s liability carrier, Read More »