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

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Insurance — Bad faith — Failure to settle — Excess judgment — Causation — Jury instructions — Verdict form — Action brought by decedent’s estate alleging that insurer breached its duty to act in good faith in the handling of estate’s wrongful death claim against insured and that insurer’s breach resulted in an excess judgment against its insured — Trial court did not err by instructing jury that insurer’s bad faith had to be the cause of the underlying excess judgment and providing verdict form requiring the jury to decide whether such a causal connection existed — In light of binding precedent, causation instruction and verdict question were not legally inaccurate — Jury instruction was not confusing — Court rejects argument that there was a reasonable possibility of confusion because the jury could have found that insured’s negligence, and not insurer’s bad faith, “caused” the excess judgment — While such a discussion between jurors was possible, insured’s negligence was never a focus of evidence or arguments at trial — Given that jury heard insurer’s evidence showing that there were no complaints about insurer’s conduct when it occurred, while the wrongful death suit was ongoing, when the estate settled with another insured under the same policy, or at any point before the excess judgment, it was not unreasonable for the trial court to instruct the jury on causation and focus its attention on whether insurer caused the excess judgment — Court rejects argument that giving of any causation instruction was error because bad faith instruction already encompassed the element of causation plaintiff had to prove — It is not legal error to instruct jury on the legal standard it must apply to resolve a factual dispute the parties put before it

50 Fla. L. Weekly D2087c JANE HANCOCK, as personal representative of the Estate of Joseph N. Hancock, Appellant, v. FLORIDA FARM BUREAU GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. 2nd District. Case No. 2D2024-1484. September 19, 2025. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Pasco County; Kimberly Byrd, Judge. Counsel: Tracy Raffles Gunn of Gunn Appellate Practice P.A., Tampa, Read More »

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Attorney’s fees — Prevailing party — Multiple parties — Allocation of fees — Defendant successful in counterclaim against plaintiff, but not successful on claims it raised against plaintiff’s principals individually — No error in awarding prevailing party attorney’s fees to individual principals in an amount that reflected work performed for unsuccessful plaintiff — Trial court did not err in determinating that attorney’s work in representing plaintiff, who was unsuccessful in prosecuting its claims against defendant and defending against counterclaim, was so inextricably intertwined with the same attorney’s work in representing successful individual principals that allocation between the two was not feasible

50 Fla. L. Weekly D2059d AQUASTAR HOLDINGS LLC, Appellant, v. AVANT DESIGN GROUP, INC., et al., Appellees. 3rd District. Case No. 3D24-0742. L.T. Case No. 18-22242-CA-01. September 17, 2025. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Charles Kenneth Johnson, Judge. Counsel: The Law Offices of Kristin Vivo, PLLC, and Kristin Vivo and Alicia Read More »

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Insurance — Property — Attorney’s fees — Prevailing party — Contingency fee multiplier — No abuse of discretion in applying a 2.0 contingency fee multiplier to insured’s fee award

50 Fla. L. Weekly D2070a UNIVERSAL PROPERTY & CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. ELIZABETH ARAGONES, Appellee. 3rd District. Case No. 3D24-0488. L.T. Case No. 21-5914-CA-01. September 17, 2025. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Beatrice Butchko Sanchez, Judge. Counsel: Link & Rockenbach, PA, and Kara Rockenbach Link and David A. Noel (West Read More »

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Torts — Premises liability — Parking lots — Proximate cause — Action stemming from injuries plaintiff suffered when he was struck by a vehicle after third-party passenger pressed on accelerator while plaintiff was leaving an event hosted at defendant’s venue — Trial court did not err by granting summary judgment in favor of defendant based on determination that defendant’s failure to create a traffic plan or direct traffic did not proximately cause plaintiff’s injuries — Unpredictable criminal conduct of vehicle passenger was an unforeseeable, intervening cause independent of any negligence on part of defendant — Furthermore, to the extent a defendant should foresee a third party’s negligent operation of a vehicle, it’s generally negligent operation by the driver rather than by the passenger

50 Fla. L. Weekly D2045a JARVIS COLEMAN, Appellant, v. VIA ENTERTAINMENT, LLC, VIA FOOD AND BEVERAGE, LLC, LAKE SQUARE MALL REALTY MANAGEMENT, LLC, VILLAGE LAKE PROMENADE, LLC, and DAVID WARD, Appellees. 5th District. Case No. 5D2023-2885. L.T. Case No. 2020-CA-000440-A. September 12, 2025. On appeal from the Circuit Court for Lake County. Dan R. Mosley, Read More »

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Insurance — Coverage — Tear out costs

50 Fla. L. Weekly D2046a SECURITY FIRST INSURANCE COMPANY d/b/a Security First Florida, Appellant, v. ARTIE M. ECHAVARRIA and ARGIRO ECHAVARRIA, Appellees. 5th District. Case No. 5D2024-1476. L.T. Case No. 2020-030510-CICI. September 12, 2025. On appeal from the Circuit Court for Volusia County. Mary G. Jolley, Judge. Counsel: Mark D. Tinker and Brandon J. Tyler, Read More »

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