48 Fla. L. Weekly D1941a CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE CORPORATION, Appellant, v. MAGDA V. SALAZAR, Appellee. 3rd District. Case No. 3D20-0367. L.T. Case No. 17-2009. October 4, 2023. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Barbara Areces, Judge. Counsel: Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP., and J. Pablo Caceres (Tampa), for appellant. Giasi Law, P.A., Read More »
Articles
Venue — Improper venue — Dismissal — Expiration of statute of limitationsNORA PEREZ SALAZAR, etc., Appellant, v. PREMIER AIR CENTER, LLC, etc., et al., Appellees. 3rd District. Case Nos. 3D23-516 & 3D23-517. L.T. Case No. 20-21227. September 20, 2023. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Carlos Guzman, Judge. Counsel: Jimenez, Hart & Mazzitelli, LLP, and Gabriel D. Mazzitelli; Armas Bertran Zincone, and J. Alfredo Armas; MSP Recovery Law, and John H. Ruiz and Alexis Fernandez, for appellant. Wicker Smith O’Hara McCoy & Ford, P.A., and Michael R. D’Lugo (Orlando), for appellee Premier Air Center, LLC d/b/a West Star Aviation, LLC.
48 Fla. L. Weekly D1873b (Before LOGUE, C.J., and EMAS and BOKOR, JJ.) ON CONFESSION OF ERROR(LOGUE, C.J.) Based upon Premier Air Center, LLC d/b/a West Star Aviation, LLC’s commendable confession of error, and our review of the record, we reverse the trial court’s order dismissing the claims against West Star in the underlying complaint Read More »
Condominiums — Dispute between unit owners and between unit owner and association — Breach of governing documents — Breach of statutory duty — Limitation of actions — Action brought against association and neighboring unit owner stemming from leak which caused water damage and mold on plaintiff unit owners’ ceilings and walls — No error in granting summary judgment in favor of defendants based on determination that breach of declaration and breach of statutory duty claims were time-barred where plaintiffs testified that there had been prior leaks and that they had last seen water leaking in 2013 when plaintiffs complained to the association which undertook and completed some repairs — Continuing tort doctrine was inapplicable where plaintiffs failed show evidence of ongoing nonperformance regarding previous leaks to warrant application of the exception — Because plaintiffs failed to provide evidence to support the occurrence of a new leak within the limitations period, summary judgment was proper — Plaintiffs failed to preserve argument that summary judgment in favor of defendant unit owners should be reversed because defendant unit owners never filed a motion for summary judgment
48 Fla. L. Weekly D1876a SLAVICA RAFFAY and ATTILA RAFFAY, Appellants, v. LONGWOOD HOUSE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., et al., Appellees. 3rd District. Case No. 3D22-1911. L.T. Case No. 19-22104. September 20, 2023. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, David C. Miller, Judge. Counsel: Gulisano Law, PLLC, and Michael Gulisano (Boca Raton), for Read More »
Insurance — Automobile liability — Bad faith — Action for common law and statutory bad faith filed by insured and personal injury plaintiff alleging that bad faith had occurred when insurer failed to settle personal injury action by declining proposal for settlement which authorized insureds to enter into a consent judgment in excess of the policy limits that would not be recorded or enforced against the insureds, but which made no indication that insurer would be released from any bad faith liability — No error determining that insurer’s refusal to accept proposals for settlement could not form basis of bad faith claim — Discussion of federal court decision in Kropilak v. 21st Century Insurance Co. and Cunningham agreements, which are agreements between an insurer and a third-party claimant to try bad-faith issues before trying underlying negligence claims in the absence of a previous excess judgment — Insurer had no duty to a enter Cunningham-type agreement because entering into Cunningham-type agreements, such as a consent judgment, for purposes of expediting bad faith litigation is the functional equivalent of an excess judgment — Error to enter final judgment in favor of insurer to extent plaintiff’s claims raised other theories of bad faith, such as how insurer handled personal injury plaintiff’s claims against the insured
48 Fla. L. Weekly D1839a BENJAMIN D. MARKUSON, ERIK SATERBO, and STEPHEN SATERBO, Appellants, v. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, an Illinois corporation; CRAWFORD LAW GROUP, P.A., a Florida corporation; and LARRY WALKER, Appellees. 2nd District. Case No. 2D21-2443. September 15, 2023. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Emily A. Peacock, Judge. Read More »
Attorney’s fees — Proposal for settlement — Trial court erred in finding that attorney’s fees were not awardable under section 768.79 after plaintiff filed notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice where court had entered summary judgment in favor of plaintiff on two of three counts of complaint prior to voluntary dismissal — Remand for entry of order awarding fees for two counts on which trial court entered summary judgment
48 Fla. L. Weekly D1850a SEJAL KUTHIALA, M.D., Appellant, v. DAVID M. GOLDMAN and BETH MAYERS GOLDMAN, Appellees. 5th District. Case No. 5D23-121. L.T. Case No. 2018-CA-5658. September 15, 2023. On appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County. Gilbert L. Feltel, Jr., Judge. Counsel: M. Scott Thomas, of Burr & Forman, LLP, Jacksonville, for Read More »