46 Fla. L. Weekly D2548a CHRISTINE ANN CRIME, Appellant, v. JOHN LOONEY, Appellee. 1st District. Case No. 1D20-1183. November 24, 2021. On appeal from the Circuit Court in Duval County. Bruce Anderson, Judge. Counsel: Matthew J. Conigliaro of Carlton Fields, P.A., Tampa; William C. Gula and Skyler B. Trettis of Vernis & Bowling of St. Read More »
Uncategorized
Insurance — Water damage — Insurer’s election to repair — Appraisal — Voided endorsements — Material breach — Error to deny insurer’s motion to compel appraisal based on finding that insurer’s failure to provide water mitigation services after electing to do so was a material breach of the policy which caused prejudice to the insureds and discharged them of any further contractual duties under preferred contract endorsement, including appraisal — Insurer’s election to repair created a new repair contract under which insurer was bound to perform repairs within a reasonable time — Insurer’s failure to provide water mitigation services was not a breach that voided or discharged insureds from appraisal provision in the policy — Rather, mitigation was subsumed within the duty to repair, and insurer’s failure to mitigate was relevant only to the cost to repair the property — Because scope of loss is in dispute and insurer demanded appraisal pursuant to appraisal provision in endorsement, insurer is entitled to appraisal
46 Fla. L. Weekly D2534a PEOPLE’S TRUST INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. PARVIN NOWROOZPOUR and PARVIZ NOWROOZPOUR, Appellees. 4th District. Case No. 4D21-720. November 24, 2021. Appeal of nonfinal order from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Keathan B. Frink, Judge; L.T. Case No. CACE-18-005826 (12). Counsel: Mary Lou Cuellar-Stilo and Mark Read More »
Torts — Automobile accident — Punitive damages — Trial court abused discretion in striking supplemental expert disclosure as untimely without analyzing whether late-disclosed expert testimony would prejudice the objecting party — Punitive damages award reversed and new trial required where trial court failed to make any findings on prejudice or analyze the Binger factors
46 Fla. L. Weekly D2325a SCOTT LENORD CALLARI, Appellant, v. ELIZABETH WINKELJOHN, Appellee. 3rd District. Case No. 3D20-0870. L.T. Case No. 18-20841. October 27, 2021. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Mavel Ruiz, Judge. Counsel: de Beaubien, Simmons, Knight, Mantzaris & Neal, LLP, and Kenneth P. Hazouri (Orlando), for appellant. Wallen | Read More »
Insurance — Personal injury protection — Coverage — Medical expenses — Reasonable, related, and necessary treatment — Trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of medical provider with regard to issue of reasonableness of charges — Affidavit and deposition of provider’s owner were conclusory and self-serving, and insufficient to support summary judgment, where owner did not have actual knowledge of reasonable prices — Trial court incorrectly struck affidavit of insurer’s expert coding witness — Conclusion that witness failed to consider amount providers were charging in the community and “did not do the right computation, based upon the right information” was contradicted by expert’s affidavit — Trial court erred in entering summary judgment on medical necessity and relatedness where genuine issues of material fact existed — Trial court erred in weighing credibility of experts and discounting insurer’s expert when ruling on summary judgment motion
46 Fla. L. Weekly D2338a STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. HOLLYWOOD DIAGNOSTIC CENTER, INC. a/a/o JUANITA B. DANCY, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D21-202. October 27, 2021. Appeal from the County Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; John D. Fry, Judge; L.T. Case Nos. 062010SC013978AXXXCE and 062018AP011524AXCCCE. Counsel: DeeAnn J. Read More »
Insurance — Homeowners — Attorney’s fees — Excessive award — Competent, substantial evidence did not support award of attorney’s fees — Lodestar — Findings that hourly rates billed for each attorney were reasonable approved — Lodestar amount must be reversed where the record does not contain competent, substantial evidence that number of hours billed was reasonable, and the court adopted plaintiffs’ fee expert’s blanket reduction to number of hours expended without explanation — Multiplier — Contingency risk — Error to apply a multiplier where record is devoid of any evidence that plaintiffs could not have obtained other competent counsel in relevant market absent availability of a contingency fee multiplier, and plaintiff’s counsel did not establish that there was a risk of nonpayment as parties’ retainer agreement expressly provided for counsel’s recovery of fees — Error to award litigation costs without evidence regarding the reasonableness of the litigation costs or whether plaintiffs intended to call the invoiced-expert-witnesses for trial
46 Fla. L. Weekly D2324b CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE CORPORATION, Appellant, v. JOSEPH CASANAS AND NANCY CERVANTES, Appellees. 3rd District. Case No. 3D20-322. L.T. Case No. 18-1723. October 27, 2021. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Martin Zilber, Judge. Counsel: Luks, Santaniello, Petrillo & Cohen, and Lauren J. Smith (Stuart), for appellant. Alvarez, Read More »