48 Fla. L. Weekly D1733b LEE FELDMAN, Appellant, v. CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE CORPORATION, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D22-865. L.T. Case No. CACE17- 012462. August 30, 2023. Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Carol-Lisa Phillips, Judge. Counsel: David B. Pakula of David B. Pakula, P.A., Pembroke Pines, and David […]
Articles
Insurance — Automobile — Insurer who filed a claim under her automobile insurance policy after her vehicle was damaged in an accident sued insurer claiming breach of policy after insured declared the vehicle a total loss and paid her what it deemed the actual cash value of vehicle — Breach of contract — Insurer was entitled to summary judgment on claim that insurer breached the policy by using an illegal methodology to calculate actual cash value — District court did not err in ruling insurer’s methodology for calculating actual cash value complied with Florida law — As matter of first impression, Section 626.9743(5), Florida Statutes, which provides that, in calculating “actual cash value” of insured’s vehicle based on actual cost to purchase comparable motor vehicle “derived from … two or more comparable motor vehicles available [in local market area] within the preceding 90 days,” did not require that “actual cash value” equal actual cost to purchase comparable vehicle — Insurer’s use of the Uniform Condition Adjustment, advertised prices of comparable motor vehicles, and the Certified Collateral Corporation ONE Market Valuation system to calculate the actual cash value of insured’s vehicle complied with Florida statute — Statute did not require that insurer use “retail cost as determined from generally recognized motor vehicle industry source” if it utilized one of other two statutory alternative methods for determining cost to purchase comparable motor vehicle — Insurer was entitled to summary judgment on claim that it breached the policy by failing to pay, as part of vehicle’s actual cash value, dealer fees incurred in purchasing replacement vehicle — Insurer was not required to pay insured’s out-of-pocket dealer fees — Under Florida and Eleventh Circuit law, “actual cash value” in an insurance policy means replacement cost less depreciation, and replacement cost includes dealer fees if the policyholder is reasonably likely to need to incur dealer fees — Insured failed to satisfy the standard for inclusion of dealer fees in replacement cost where insured showed a reasonable likelihood that she would incur dealer fees if she chose to purchase her replacement vehicle from a dealer and that a policyholder is reasonably likely to purchase a replacement vehicle from a dealer, but failed to show that a policyholder is reasonably likely to need to purchase a replacement vehicle from a dealer
29 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C2691a GINA SIGNOR, individually and on behalf of all those similarly situated, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SAFECO INSURANCE COMPANY OF ILLINOIS, Defendant-Appellee. 11th Circuit. Case No. 21-13148. July 3, 2023. Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (No. 0:19-cv-61937-WPD). (Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, JILL PRYOR, and […]
Torts — Punitive damages — Amendment of complaint — Action alleging that vibration from defendant’s installation of sheet piles during construction on its parcel caused damage to plaintiff’s building — Trial court erred in granting plaintiff’s motion to amend its complaint to assert a claim for punitive damages based on allegation of gross negligence where plaintiff did not make required evidentiary showing to support such a claim — Report produced by third-party contractor warning defendant against the use of large vibratory compaction equipment in construction project, when read together with contractor’s deposition testimony, offered no evidentiary support for plaintiff’s claim that contractor warned defendant against using vibratory equipment in installation of sheet piles — Plaintiff’s expert’s affidavit, which drew illogical conclusions from contractor’s report, offered no support for gross negligence claim
48 Fla. L. Weekly D1470a 701 PALAFOX, LLC, GREENHUT CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC. and GREENHUT CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT, LLC, Appellants, v. SCUBA SHACK, INC., a Florida Corporation, Appellee. 1st District. Case No. 1D22-1535. July 26, 2023. On appeal from the Circuit Court for Escambia County. Terry D. Terrell, Judge. Counsel: Samuel B. Spinner, Hinda Klein, and […]
Torts — Premises liability — Malls — Dangerous condition — Landscaping features — Vicarious liability — Action against operator of mall arising from injuries plaintiff suffered after stepping into a hole or depression in a raised landscape area which separated mall’s parking lot from the sidewalk that led to mall’s entrance — No error in entering summary judgment in favor of defendant because, as a matter of law, the landscaped area was not a dangerous condition — Evidence that a few people had walked across the landscaped area to get to the sidewalk was not sufficient to create a duty where there was no evidence that the grass bed had become a well-trampled footpath or that the grass bed has been in continuous and obvious use as a pedestrian shortcut such that defendant was put on constructive notice of the condition — Defendant cannot be held vicariously liable for condition created by landscapers where landscapers were not found liable
48 Fla. L. Weekly D1351a STEPHANIE PIO, Appellant, v. SIMON CAPITAL GP; MACY’S FLORIDA STORES, LLC; and LUKE’S LANDSCAPING, INC., Appellees. 2nd District. Case No. 2D21-1621. July 7, 2023. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Pinellas County; Cynthia J. Newton, Judge. Counsel: Robert J. Healy, Jr., of Salter, Healy, Rivera & Heptner, St. Petersburg, for […]
Torts — Automobile accident — Permanent injury — Causation — Trial court improperly directed verdict on causation given conflicting evidence which would have permitted reasonable jury to conclude that plaintiff had a pre-existing back injury caused by weight training or prior participation in competitive crew rowing
48 Fla. L. Weekly D1410b HERNANDO J. LANCHEROS and VL AUTO TRANSPORT, INC., Appellants, v. RYAN BURKE, Appellee. 6th District. Case No. 6D23-1144. L.T. Case No. 2017-CA-010082-O. July 14, 2023. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Orange County. Jeffrey L. Ashton, Judge. Counsel: Hinda Klein, of Conroy Simberg, Hollywood, for Appellants. Brian J. Lee, of […]