29 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C2313a STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff-Counter Defendant-Appellee, v. ANNA BEVILACQUA SPANGLER, RICHARD DALE SPANGLER, Defendants-Counter Claimant-Appellants. 11th Circuit. Case No. 21-12062. April 3, 2023. Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (No. 6:20-cv-00360-PGB-LRH). (Before WILSON, JILL PRYOR, and HULL, Circuit Judges.) (JILL PRYOR, […]
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Torts — Medical malpractice — Punitive damages — Action alleging defendant improperly treated plaintiff using medically unnecessary course of radiation — Trial court erred in allowing plaintiff to amend complaint to add claim for punitive damages where plaintiff did not proffer sufficient evidence to demonstrate that defendant’s conduct amounted to intentional misconduct or gross negligence under section 768.72(2), as opposed to ordinary negligence — Allegations of breach of standard of care, without more, cannot form basis of punitive damages claim simply by labeling defendant’s actions as “grossly negligent” — Federal court filings against defendant in unrelated cases, which were proffered by plaintiff as being relevant to defendant’s intent, motive, and state of mind in prescribing allegedly improper radiation treatment, were not sufficient to support claim for punitive damages
48 Fla. L. Weekly D698a GARY L. MARDER, D.O., Appellant, v. ROBERTA MUELLER, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D22-1576. April 5, 2023. Appeal of a non-final order from the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, St. Lucie County; Laurie E. Buchanan, Judge; L.T. Case No. 562018CA002257. Counsel: Dinah S. Stein and Aneta McCleary of […]
Torts — Legal malpractice — Summary judgment — Independent analysis — Final summary judgment entered in favor of defendant law firm is reversed — Trial court’s adoption of defendant’s forty-page proposed order did not show independent judicial analysis where trial court adopted the proposed order word for word without allowing objection by plaintiff’s counsel, and made no factual findings or legal conclusions that could form the basis for the proposed order
48 Fla. L. Weekly D713a TERRELL KING, Appellant, v. FARAH & FARAH, P.A., EDDIE E. FARAH, AND CHARLIE E. FARAH, Appellees. 5th District. Case No. 5D23-20. L.T. Case No. 2014-CA-001683. April 6, 2023. Appeal from Circuit Court for Duval County, Bruce R. Anderson, Jr., Judge. Counsel: Kara Rockenbach Link and Daniel M. Schwarz, of Link […]
Insurance — Automobile — Bad faith — Insurance dispute arising out of accident involving the insured driver, the plaintiff driver, and a non-party driver — District court improvidently granted summary judgment to insurer on plaintiff’s claim for bad faith under Florida common law where material issues of fact remain in dispute as to whether insurer’s handling of plaintiff’s damages claim amounted to bad faith and whether insurer’s bad faith conduct caused the excess judgment against insured — Plaintiff is entitled to have a jury resolve those issues — When viewed under “totality of the circumstances,” including insurer’s substantial undue delay in initiating settlement negotiations and failure to provide plaintiff’s attorney and insured with the information they each needed to settle the case, a genuine issue of material fact remains in dispute as to whether insurer’s handling of plaintiff’s claim amounted to bad faith conduct — Causation — A genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether insurer caused the entry of an excess judgment against insured where evidence showed that case may have settled if insurer had complied with its duty to initiate settlement negotiations sooner or provided plaintiff’s attorney with affidavit confirming that insured had no additional insurance before plaintiff filed suit
29 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C2292a DANIEL ILIAS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. USAA GENERAL INDEMNITY COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. 11th Circuit. Case No. 21-12486. March 14, 2023. Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (No. 8:20-cv-00834-WFJ-TGW). (Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and ROSENBAUM and MARCUS, Circuit Judges.) (MARCUS, Circuit Judge.) On July 29, 2017, […]
Attorney’s fees — Sanctions — Bad faith conduct — Order requiring appellant and appellant’s counsel to pay attorney’s fees as a sanction for litigation conduct is reversed where, although order detailed conduct that trial court found “improper,” trial court did not find bad faith or use any “equivalent language”
48 Fla. L. Weekly D656a TRAVELERS HOME AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, and SCOTT ALBEE, Appellants, v. WEST BOCA COLLISION, INC., a/a/o ROSEMARY SOTO, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D22-716. March 29, 2023. Appeal from the County Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Frank S. Castor, Judge; L.T. Case No. 50-2017-SC-003317-XXXX-SB. Counsel: Jack […]