45 Fla. L. Weekly D1349b Wrongful death — Automobile accident — Vicarious liability — Damages — Insurance — Liability limitations — Action against vehicle owner arising from fatal accident caused by permissive driver — No error in entering summary judgment in favor of vehicle owner based on determination that owner’s liability was statutorily limited to […]
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Insurance — Uninsured/underinsured motorist — Damages — Medical expenses — Remittitur — Set-off — Collateral source — Trial court did not abuse its discretion in reducing jury’s award of past medical expenses to the amount of bills in evidence or in granting setoff of personal injury protection benefits paid by insurer — Trial court erred in failing to credit plaintiff for past PIP premium payments without further explanation — Trial court erred in reducing verdict based on Medicare reductions — Attorney’s fees — Proposal for settlement — Insurer’s proposal for settlement was legally sufficient, and terms were sufficiently clear and definite to allow insured to make decision without needing clarification — Under circumstances, proposal was not ambiguous because it required insured to “satisfy all relevant liens” and stated that acceptance would “resolve all claims” against insurer — Amount of judgment — Trial court did not err in considering judgment obtained against UM insurer rather than judgment obtained through negotiation with negligent driver when evaluating whether insurer met threshold amount for award of attorney’s fees — No abuse of discretion in finding that nominal proposal was made in good faith — On remand, trial court to address issues of setoff and remittitur and to determine whether insurer’s proposal met threshold amount to trigger entitlement to attorney’s fees after net judgment is recalculated considering all legally authorized reductions
45 Fla. L. Weekly D1409c Insurance — Uninsured/underinsured motorist — Damages — Medical expenses — Remittitur — Set-off — Collateral source — Trial court did not abuse its discretion in reducing jury’s award of past medical expenses to the amount of bills in evidence or in granting setoff of personal injury protection benefits paid by […]
Insurance — Homeowners — All risk policy — Water damage — Breach of contract claim filed against insurer alleging that pool’s leaking drain pipe caused damages covered under policy — Trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of insurer based on finding that policy’s water damage exclusion barred insureds’ claim — Language of water damage exclusion provisions in policy plainly referred to naturally-flowing water or waterborne material existing outside of the plumbing system — Because trial court did not rule on policy’s “wear and tear” exclusion, insureds’ argument that exclusion did not apply is not ripe for appellate review
45 Fla. L. Weekly D1194a Insurance — Homeowners — All risk policy — Water damage — Breach of contract claim filed against insurer alleging that pool’s leaking drain pipe caused damages covered under policy — Trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of insurer based on finding that policy’s water damage exclusion barred […]
Insurance — Homeowners — All risk policy — Exclusions — Claim for water damage — Trial court properly entered summary for insurer on basis that claim for water damage was excluded by constant and repeated seepage or leakage exclusion in policy — Insurer proffered evidence that damage likely occurred by slow leakage or seepage of water over period of weeks or months, and insureds failed to introduce sufficient evidence to show that the damage was instead caused by a one-time accidental release of water
45 Fla. L. Weekly D1210a Insurance — Homeowners — All risk policy — Exclusions — Claim for water damage — Trial court properly entered summary for insurer on basis that claim for water damage was excluded by constant and repeated seepage or leakage exclusion in policy — Insurer proffered evidence that damage likely occurred by […]
Insurance — Homeowners — Attorney’s fees — Prevailing party — Contingency fee multiplier — In determining whether relevant market required contingency fee multiplier to obtain competent counsel, trial court erred in considering plaintiff’s actual difficulty in locating counsel rather than looking at the relevant market itself — Trial court erred in analyzing whether counsel was able to mitigate risk of nonpayment where instead of relying on undisputed evidence that plaintiff could not afford an hourly fee, the trial court relied on the likelihood of success — Likelihood of success is to be considered in determining range of multiplier rather than whether risk of non-payment is mitigated
45 Fla. L. Weekly D1217c Insurance — Homeowners — Attorney’s fees — Prevailing party — Contingency fee multiplier — In determining whether relevant market required contingency fee multiplier to obtain competent counsel, trial court erred in considering plaintiff’s actual difficulty in locating counsel rather than looking at the relevant market itself — Trial court erred […]