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

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Insurance — Bad faith — Failure to settle — Jury instructions — Refusal to give requested instruction — District abused discretion in instructing jury on bad faith resulting from the failure to settle a claim when the court omitted Florida law providing that bad faith is also present when an insurance company fails to advise an insured about settlement offers and likely litigation outcomes — Refusal to give requested instruction on a failure-to-advise theory of bad faith was an abuse of discretion, where requested instruction correctly stated the legal basis for a failure-to-advise theory of liability under applicable Florida law, the proposed instruction dealt with an issue properly before the jury, and the district court’s failure to give the proposed instruction caused prejudicial harm — District court did not abuse its discretion in answering jury’s question during deliberations as to whether the bad faith claim encompassed the full length of time after the accident or only the time after plaintiff’s attorney sent the settlement offer — District court’s answer that the jury should consider the “totality of the circumstances” was a correct statement of Florida law providing that “the question of whether an insurer has acted in bad faith in handling claims against the insured is determined under the ‘totality of the circumstances’ standard”

29 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C1328a DUSTIN C. BRINK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DIRECT GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. 11th Circuit. Case No. 21-11070. June 28, 2022. Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (No. 8:19-cv-02844-JSM-AEP). (Before JILL PRYOR, GRANT, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.) (GRANT, Circuit Judge.) Dustin Brink was seriously injured in Read More »

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Insurance — Bad faith — Civil remedy notice — Cure period — Tolling — Trial court erred by finding that sixty-day cure period, which began to run when plaintiff filed its CRN, was tolled once insurer invoked appraisal provision of policy, and that insurer’s timely payment of appraisal award cured any claim of bad faith — Invocation of appraisal provision after a CRN has been filed does not toll, as a matter of law, the sixty-day cure period until appraisal has concluded — Error to find that CRN did not comport with statutory specificity requirement — CRN allegations that insurer had suggested numerous “half-cures” to resolving the damage claim; made “lowball” offers as a precursor to invoking the appraisal process in order to cause additional delay; and received an invoice from plaintiff that detailed the actual work performed with a specific amount necessary to resolve the claim, were sufficient

47 Fla. L. Weekly D1423c APEX ROOFING AND RESTORATION, LLC A/A/O JAMES DERRICK, Appellant, v. STATE FARM FLORIDA INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. 5th District. Case No. 5D21-1919. L.T. Case No. 2020-CC-001461-O. Opinion filed July 1, 2022. Appeal from the County Court for Orange County, Tina Caraballo, Judge. Counsel: Ramil A. Kaminsky and Nicola Mitry, of RAK Read More »

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Torts — Schools — Discovery — Attorney-client privilege — Public meetings — Government in the sunshine — Appeals — Certiorari — Action brought by charter school alleging claims of tortious interference and conspiracy after investigative report conducted by school district’s general counsel was made public — Trial court did not depart from essential requirements of the law by ruling that communications between school district’s attorney and two of its employees were not protected by attorney-client privilege where it appeared that employees were interviewed as part of fact-finding investigation and school district failed to establish that either employee consulted with attorney for the purpose of obtaining legal services — Subject communications were not meetings pursuant to section 286.011(1) because neither employee was a school board member or part of a decision-making committee

47 Fla. L. Weekly D1387a COLLIER COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS a/k/a THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF COLLIER COUNTY; JUDITH DELGADO; and SHERYL ROGERS, Petitioners, v. MASON CLASSICAL ACADEMY, INC., Respondent. 2nd District. Case No. 2D21-1602. June 29, 2022. Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Caroline Tesche Arkin, Judge. Counsel: Christopher D. Read More »

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Insurance — Property — Coverage — Water damage — Limitation — Homeowner’s property insurance policy endorsement which limited losses for water damage to $5,000 covered “tear out” expenses and all such losses arising out of water damage — While insured claims that losses from “damage arising out of water” means something different than losses “arising out of water damage,” both cover losses “incident to” or “having a connection with” water — Policy language covers “loss caused by water including the cost of tearing out” of parts of structure to repair the system which leaked, and thus “tear out” costs are part of water damage loss

47 Fla. L. Weekly D1394b CHARLES HERRINGTON, Appellant, v. CERTAIN UNDERWRITERS AT LLOYD’S LONDON, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D21-1669. June 29, 2022. Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Carlos A. Rodriguez, Judge; L.T. Case No. CACE19-021771. Counsel: Ronald P. Weil of the Weil Law Firm, P.A., Miami, for Read More »

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Torts — Jurors — For-cause challenge — Denial — New trial — Appellant not entitled to new trial because he had to use peremptory challenge to remove a potential juror that should have been removed for cause — Conflict certified

47 Fla. L. Weekly D1416b JAMES SEADLER, Appellant, v. MARINA BAY RESORT CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., d/b/a MARINA BAY RESORT, Appellee. 1st District. Case No. 1D19-0850. June 29, 2022. On appeal from the Circuit Court for Okaloosa County. William F. Stone, Judge. Counsel: Charles F. Beall, Jr., and Haley J. VanFleteren of Moore, Hill & Westmoreland, Read More »

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