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Insurance — Automobile — Bad faith — Insurance dispute arising out of accident involving the insured driver, the plaintiff driver, and a non-party driver — District court improvidently granted summary judgment to insurer on plaintiff’s claim for bad faith under Florida common law where material issues of fact remain in dispute as to whether insurer’s handling of plaintiff’s damages claim amounted to bad faith and whether insurer’s bad faith conduct caused the excess judgment against insured — Plaintiff is entitled to have a jury resolve those issues — When viewed under “totality of the circumstances,” including insurer’s substantial undue delay in initiating settlement negotiations and failure to provide plaintiff’s attorney and insured with the information they each needed to settle the case, a genuine issue of material fact remains in dispute as to whether insurer’s handling of plaintiff’s claim amounted to bad faith conduct — Causation — A genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether insurer caused the entry of an excess judgment against insured where evidence showed that case may have settled if insurer had complied with its duty to initiate settlement negotiations sooner or provided plaintiff’s attorney with affidavit confirming that insured had no additional insurance before plaintiff filed suit

29 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C2292a DANIEL ILIAS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. USAA GENERAL INDEMNITY COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. 11th Circuit. Case No. 21-12486. March 14, 2023. Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (No. 8:20-cv-00834-WFJ-TGW). (Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and ROSENBAUM and MARCUS, Circuit Judges.) (MARCUS, Circuit Judge.) On July 29, 2017, Read More »

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Attorney’s fees — Sanctions — Bad faith conduct — Order requiring appellant and appellant’s counsel to pay attorney’s fees as a sanction for litigation conduct is reversed where, although order detailed conduct that trial court found “improper,” trial court did not find bad faith or use any “equivalent language”

48 Fla. L. Weekly D656a TRAVELERS HOME AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, and SCOTT ALBEE, Appellants, v. WEST BOCA COLLISION, INC., a/a/o ROSEMARY SOTO, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D22-716. March 29, 2023. Appeal from the County Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Frank S. Castor, Judge; L.T. Case No. 50-2017-SC-003317-XXXX-SB. Counsel: Jack Read More »

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Insurance — Homeowners — Windstorm loss — Coverage — Summary judgment — Continuance — No error in denying plaintiff’s motion for continuance and granting summary judgment in favor of insurer — Rule 1.510 did not give the court discretion to consider late-filed deposition — Rule requires that a nonmovant’s response and its supporting facts be served at least twenty days before time fixed for hearing — While plaintiff’s current counsel personally demonstrated due diligence in seeking a continuance for plaintiff, record does not otherwise explain why plaintiff was unable to timely submit deposition prior to the scheduled summary judgment hearing — No abuse of discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion for continuance of summary judgment hearing to allow for additional discovery where a continuance to obtain further discovery would not lead to any new evidence that would create a genuine issue of material fact precluding summary judgment — Additionally, record shows that plaintiff had an adequate opportunity to engage in further discovery and any further discovery was not likely to present any material facts relevant to trial court’s disposition of the issues

48 Fla. L. Weekly D537a FULL PRO RESTORATION, a/a/o Placido Fernandez, Appellant, v. CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE CORPORATION, Appellee. 3rd District. Case No. 3D21-2312. L.T. Case No. 19-20010 CC. March 15, 2023. An Appeal from the County Court for Miami-Dade County, Michael G. Barket, Judge. Counsel: Louis Law Group, PLLC, and Pierre A. Louis and Alibia Read More »

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Attorney’s fees — Prevailing party — Entitlement — No error in denying prevailing defendant’s request for attorney’s fees — Although prior settlement agreement between the parties entitled a prevailing party to attorney’s fees in the event of further litigation, defendant was required to have stated her claim for attorney’s fees in her answers, which she failed to do — Defendant’s requests for attorney’s fees contained in her motion to dismiss and motion for summary judgment, filed more than two years apart, were insufficient to place plaintiff on notice that defendant was claiming attorney’s fees for the entire action pursuant to the settlement agreement

48 Fla. L. Weekly D594b HOPE VICKERS, Appellant, v. FAITH MALPELI and ESTATE OF LYNNE C. MALPELI, deceased, Appellees. 6th District. Case No. 6D23-281. L.T. Case No. 2015-CP-002703-0001-XX. March 17, 2023. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Collier County. Elizabeth V. Krier, Judge. Counsel: Scott A. Beatty and Iman Zekri, of Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Read More »

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Torts — Premises liability — Slip and fall — Transitory substance — Knowledge of dangerous condition — Summary judgment — Trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of defendant — There was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether defendant had constructive knowledge of the liquid that allegedly caused plaintiff’s injury where plaintiff testified that there was a large amount of liquid, the liquid was dirty and slimy, and that plaintiff had observed footprints in the puddle that did not belong to her — A reasonable jury could credit plaintiff’s testimony and infer that the tracked footprints plaintiff observed in the large amount of dirty liquid indicated that the liquid substance was there long enough for several individuals to walk through it such that defendant should have detected it, particularly where defendant testified that they had an employee stationed in the area at all times

48 Fla. L. Weekly D583d WANDA WELCH, Appellant, v. CHLN, INC., Appellee. 5th District. Case No. 5D22-357. L.T. Case No. 05-2019-CA-010929-X. Opinion filed March 17, 2023. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Brevard County, Charles M. Holcomb, Judge. Counsel: Brian J. Lee, of Morgan & Morgan, Jacksonville, for Appellant. Robert A. Ader and Elizabeth B. Read More »

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