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Defending Liability, Workers' Compensation, Employment Claims and Appeals Since 1982

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Insurance — Personal injury protection — Medical expenses — Reimbursement — Laser therapy — No error in entering order requiring insurer to reimburse provider for low-level laser therapy where reimbursement was initally denied because the CPT code billed by provider was not specifically recognized by Medicare Part B or workers’ compensation fee schedules — The nature of the service, not the billed CPT code, controls — Subject therapy was a covered service which insurer was required to reimburse where provider provided evidence that treatment with unlisted modalities was a covered service under the fee schedules, and that laser therapy was such an unlisted modality

47 Fla. L. Weekly D2490a UNITED AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. CHIRONEX ENTERPRISES, INC., a/a/o EMILY ECHEGARAY, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D21-2307. November 30, 2022. Appeal from the County Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; John Hurley, Judge; L.T. Case No. CONO20-015892. Counsel: Sean M. Sweeney, Miami, for appellant. Chad A. Barr Read More »

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Torts — Premises liability — Slip and fall — Evidence — Impeachment — Impeachment of plaintiff with unsworn pre-trial discovery responses concerning plaintiff’s financial records

47 Fla. L. Weekly D2515a DANIEL KELLENBERGER, Appellant, v. WAL-MART STORES EAST, LP, a Foreign Limited Partnership, Appellee. 1st District. Case No. 1D21-2368. November 30, 2022. On appeal from the Circuit Court for Baker County. Gloria R. Walker, Judge. Counsel: E. Aaron Sprague, Chelsea R. Harris, Dana A. Jacobs, and Fraz Ahmed of Coker Law, Read More »

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Attorney’s fees — Sanctions — Denial — Appeals — Order denying motion for sanctions pursuant to section 57.105 is reversed where trial court failed to make any factual findings — Although a denial of a motion pursuant to section 57.105 does not require the specific findings dictated by the statute when granting a motion, the failure to make any findings prohibits meaningful appellate review

47 Fla. L. Weekly D2560a VAN SANT LAW, LLC, Appellant, v. AIR ISAAC, LLC, Appellee. 2nd District. Case No. 2D21-3714. December 2, 2022. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Pinellas County; George M. Jirotka, Judge. Counsel: David L. Luck of Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith, LLP, Coral Gables, for Appellant. Steven Scott Stephens and John Read More »

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Insurance — Homeowners — Bad faith — Discovery — Attorney-client privilege — Proper standard — Appeals — Certiorari — Petition seeking review of order approving special magistrate’s recommendations compelling discovery of documents that special magistrate reviewed in camera, which included claims materials created prior to final judgment on coverage dispute, and leaving insurer to determine what other documents in its possession are required to be produced in accordance with the order while filing an updated privilege log for documents it decides to withhold based on attorney-client privilege — Because trial court may never decide to require disclosure of documents other than those reviewed by special magistrate, the petition is premature as to those documents — Magistrate’s order did not improperly apply a need-based analysis to documents claimed to be protected by attorney-client privilege — Language of order recognizes that the only source of information as to the central issue of the bad faith litigation may be insurer’s litigation file, but does not indicate that the attorney-client privilege does not apply simply where the other party has a need for it — Magistrate’s order did not improperly consider relevance of documents in determining attorney-client privilege — Statement regarding relevance in magistrate’s order was made in response to insurer’s argument that documents of outside counsel are irrelevant and did not indicate that attorney-client privilege did not apply to certain documents simply because they were relevant — Magistrate’s order did not improperly find that the attorney-client privilege does not apply to communications between an insurer and its counsel regarding the weight of legal authority on coverage issues — Magistrate correctly ruled that materials relating to the investigation of the underlying claim are discoverable if those materials do not involve the rendering of legal advice — Petition denied

47 Fla. L. Weekly D2569a AMERICAN HOME ASSURANCE COMPANY, INC., Petitioner, v. JOHN ROBERT SEBO, individually and as trustee under Revocable Trust Agreement of John Robert Sebo, dated November 4, 2004, Respondent. 2nd District. Case No. 2D21-3270. December 5, 2022. Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for Collier County; Lauren L. Brodie, Read More »

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Torts — Automobile accident — Discovery — Non-parties — Cell phone records — Appeals — Certiorari — Trial court departed from essential requirements of the law by compelling disclosure of a sweeping range of information from defendant’s cell phone records by her cell phone carrier without first determining relevance and balancing the need for the information against defendant’s privacy rights, and without conducting an in camera review of the records — Departure constitutes irreparable harm because the discovery requested implicates defendant’s right to privacy — Defendant was not required to file motion for protective order to preserve her argument that records were not subject to production — Order quashed except to the extent that the order allows discovery regarding whether defendant was using her cell phone close to or at the time of the accident

47 Fla. L. Weekly D2384a DENISE LAUREEN WHARRAN, Petitioner, v. SUEN ANGHARA MORGAN, Respondent. 2nd District. Case No. 2D22-395. November 18, 2022. Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Caroline Tesche Arkin, Judge. Counsel: Jeffrey D. Jensen of Unice Salzman Jensen, P.A., Trinity, for Petitioner. Nicholas A. Shannin and Carol Read More »

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