FLWSUPP 3109WILL A.J. WELLS ROOFING & CONSTRUCTION, a/a/o Mavis Williams, Plaintiff, v. UNIVERSAL PROPERTY & CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. Circuit Court, 4th Judicial Circuit in and for Duval County, Civil Division. Case No. 2022-CA-000052. November 7, 2023. Robert M. Dees, Judge. Counsel: Charles P. Pearson and Dale S. Shelton, Shelton Law, PLLC, Tallahassee, for Plaintiff. Read More »
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Insurance — Property — Insured’s action against insurer — Conditions precedent — Presuit notice — Trial court erred in dismissing action based on insured’s failure to file presuit notice pursuant to section 627.70152 where, although action was filed after statute’s enactment, both the policy’s coverage period and the insured’s loss occurred before the statute’s enactment — Conflict certified
49 Fla. L. Weekly D132a JOHN SULZER and JEANETTE ROBERTS SULZER, Appellants, v. AMERICAN INTEGRITY INSURANCE COMPANY OF FLORIDA, Appellee. 6th District. Case No. 6D23-391. L.T. Case No. 2021CC494. January 8, 2024. Appeal from the County Court for Hendry County. Darrell R. Hill, Judge. Counsel: Paul B. Feltman, of Alvarez, Feltman, Da Silva & Costa, Read More »
Torts — Automobile accident — Vicarious liability — Respondeat superior — Scope of employment — No error in granting summary judgment in favor of driver’s employer — As a matter of law, driver was not acting within the scope of his employment as a banquet manager by calling or attempting to call defendant employer at the time of the accident to give instructions regarding an ongoing banquet — Neither driving, nor using a personal cell phone while driving home, was an integral part of the work driver was hired to perform — Even if driver was motivated to further defendant’s interests when he placed the phone call to defendant around the time of the accident, driver’s decision to do so by using his personal cell phone while driving his personal vehicle on his way home was for driver’s own convenience
49 Fla. L. Weekly D124a ALICIA MCKEE, individually and as Personal Representative of the ESTATE OF PAUL JAMES MCKEE, Appellant, v. CRESTLINE HOTELS & RESORTS, LLC, d/b/a HILTON SINGER ISLAND OCEANFRONT/PALM BEACHES, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D2022-3428. January 10, 2024. Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Jaimie Read More »
Torts — Premises liability — Slip and fall — Knowledge of dangerous condition — Trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of defendant based on determination that, because plaintiff could not meet her burden regarding how long puddle of water was on the floor, she could not establish defendant’s knowledge of the water under section 768.0755 — Plaintiff’s testimony regarding the puddle of water in which she slipped was sufficient to defeat summary judgment motion where testimony offered more than just a description of the water and included facts that created a question about whether the puddle was on the ground for a significant length of time
49 Fla. L. Weekly D86a ANA DEL CARPIO, Appellant, v. WESTERN BEEF OF FLORIDA, LLC, and WESTERN BEEF RETAIL, INC., Appellees. 4th District. Case No. 4D2022-3434. January 3, 2024. Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Luis Delgado, Judge; L.T. Case No. 502018CA008129XXXXMB. Counsel: Ramon Rubio of Rubio Law Read More »
Insurance — Homeowners — Bad faith — Coverage defense — Insurer discovering that claim was excluded under policy when investigating bad faith claim — Trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of insurer based on determination that claim was not actually covered under the policy, despite fact that insurer had paid insured her full policy limit after appraisal — Argument that no liability exists because no coverage exists could have been raised in prior suit seeking appointment of an umpire — Liability determination by payment of policy limits is binding as a condition precedent to prosecute a first-party bad faith action — If the statutory obligation of the insurer to avoid a bad faith claim is to timely evaluate and pay benefits owed under the insurance policy, then the duty to evaluate the claim necessarily includes a duty to investigate the claim properly and promptly, including the cause of injury to the property
49 Fla. L. Weekly D89a SUSAN CINGARI, Appellant, v. FIRST PROTECTIVE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D2022-2376. January 3, 2024. Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Gerard Joseph Curley, Jr., Judge; L.T. Case No. 50-2020-CA-008364. Counsel: William D. Mueller, Elliot B. Kula, and W. Aaron Daniel Read More »