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

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Insurance — Homeowners — Windstorm loss — Notice of loss — Timeliness — Prejudice to insurer — No error in entering summary judgment in favor of insurer based on determination that insured failed to overcome presumption that insurer was prejudiced by his failure to timely report claim for hurricane damage — Insured failed to act with reasonable dispatch and within a reasonable time where insured waited two years and seven months to report claim of hurricane damage to his roof — Conclusory affidavits submitted by insured in opposition to summary judgment were insufficient to rebut presumption of prejudice where passage of time rendered insurer unable to determine what current damage was directly attributable to the storm — Court rejects argument that policy was ambiguous because it contained a clause imposing a blanket bar on any hurricane-related claim beyond three-year window and a second clause requiring insured to provide prompt notice of any claim — Clauses, when read together, require an insured to file any hurricane-related claim within three years of the storm, and to act swiftly upon discovering damages

48 Fla. L. Weekly D152b PEDRO NAVARRO, Appellant, v. CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE CORPORATION, Appellee. 3rd District. Case No. 3D22-0032. L.T. Case No. 20-14830. January 18, 2023. An appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, David C. Miller, Judge. Counsel: Giasi Law, P.A., Melissa A. Giasi, and Erin M. Berger (Tampa), for appellant. Franklin Legal Read More »

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Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Bad faith — Complaint — Amendment — Addition of claim for punitive damages — Action alleging that insurer violated law by issuing policies without a written rejection form and by accepting verbal rejections of UM coverage — Error to grant insured’s motion for leave to add punitive damages claim where insured failed to provide reasonable basis to find that insurer’s acts occurred with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice, and were willful, wanton, and malicious and in reckless disregard for insured’s rights

48 Fla. L. Weekly D168b PROGRESSIVE SELECT INSURANCE COMPANY f/k/a PROGRESSIVE AUTO PRO INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. JANELLE OBER, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D22-1134. January 18, 2023. Appeal of non-final order from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Carlos A. Rodriguez, Judge; L.T. Case No. CACE09-003236. Counsel: Kristen M. Fiore Read More »

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Consumer law — Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices — Proposal for settlement — Attorney’s fees — Costs — Prevailing party — Where partial summary judgment as to liability was granted in favor of plaintiff, but jury awarded no damages, it was not an abuse of discretion for trial court to deny defendant’s request for attorney’s fees as a prevailing party on Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act claim — No error in denying fees and costs under proposals for settlement presented to trial court — None of the proposals proffered satisfied strict requirements of section 768.79 and rule 1.442 where proposals required plaintiff to execute a release but failed to describe release with sufficient detail, contained ambiguity as to punitive damages, and required payment from date of settlement without defining such date — Error to deny request for costs under section 57.041 — A zero judgment constitutes a judgment in favor of the defendant for purposes of recovery of costs under the statute

48 Fla. L. Weekly D156a VIRGINIA HADAD GONZALEZ, Appellant, v. MILLIN A. NOBREGAS, Appellee. 3rd District. Case No. 3D21-1826. L.T. Case No. 11-5755. January 18, 2023. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Mark Blumstein, Judge. Counsel: J. Muir & Associates, P.A., and Jane W. Muir, for appellant. Wasson & Associates, Chartered, and Read More »

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Torts — Premises liability — Slip and fall — Discovery — Relevance — Appeals — Certiorari — Order requiring defendant’s corporate representative to address areas of inquiry related to defendant’s corporate-wide operations is quashed — Allowing corporate-wide discovery amounted to carte blanche discovery that results in irreparable harm and departs from essential requirements of the law — Information is not discoverable based on its relevance to show negligent mode of operation because, under section 768.0755, negligent mode of operation is not a viable theory of recovery in slip-and-fall cases

48 Fla. L. Weekly D192a PUBLIX SUPER MARKETS, INC., Petitioner, v. ERNESTO BLANCO, Respondent. 3rd District. Case No. 3D22-0852. L.T. Case No. 20-27601. January 25, 2023. A Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, William Thomas, Judge. Counsel: Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, P.L., and Edward G. Guedes, for petitioner. Morgan Read More »

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Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Bad faith — Complaint — Amendment — Addition of claim for punitive damages — Action alleging that insurer violated law by issuing policies without a written rejection form and by accepting verbal rejections of UM coverage — Error to grant insured’s motion for leave to add punitive damages claim where insured failed to provide reasonable basis to find that insurer’s acts occurred with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice, and were willful, wanton, and malicious and in reckless disregard for insured’s rights

48 Fla. L. Weekly D168b PROGRESSIVE SELECT INSURANCE COMPANY f/k/a PROGRESSIVE AUTO PRO INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. JANELLE OBER, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D22-1134. January 18, 2023. Appeal of non-final order from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Carlos A. Rodriguez, Judge; L.T. Case No. CACE09-003236. Counsel: Kristen M. Fiore Read More »