47 Fla. L. Weekly D638b ALLSTATE FIRE AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. SPORTS, SPINE, OCCUPATIONAL, REHABILITATION, INC., a/a/o JUNE RICHARDS, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D21-817. March 16, 2022. Appeal from the County Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Steven DeLuca, Judge; L.T. Case No. CONO 16-003651. Counsel: Daniel E. Nordby and […]
Articles
Insurance — Homeowners — Hurricane damage — Coverage — Water intrusion — Cause of loss — Evidence — Experts — Trial court erred in entering summary judgment for insurer in insureds’ breach of contract action — Insureds’ expert, a general contractor, provided sufficient evidence to introduce genuine issue of material fact as to whether hurricane force winds created openings in roof to allow water to enter interior, creating damage covered by windstorm policy
47 Fla. L. Weekly D649a MAGDIEL MORALES, et al., Appellants, v. CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE CORPORATION, Appellee. 3rd District. Case No. 3D21-276. L.T. Case No. 19-24251. March 16, 2022. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Mavel Ruiz, Judge. Counsel: Behnejad Law PLLC, and Ruzy Behnejad and Richard Rafuls, for appellants. Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard […]
Insurance — Homeowners — Bad faith — Civil remedy notice — Cure period — Tolling — Appraisal — Error to enter summary judgment in favor of insurer in first-party bad faith action based on finding that cure period under section 624.155 was tolled pending the filing of appraisal award — Section 624.155 does not include any language modifying or creating an exception to the mandatory sixty-day cure period when an insurer invokes appraisal or fails to pay damages because a condition precedent to payment under the policy has not been fulfilled — Insurer’s invocation of the appraisal process and its payment of the appraisal award after the expiration of the sixty-day cure period on civil remedy notice did not, as a matter of law, cure the alleged bad faith — Policy language withholding payment until the fulfillment of a condition precedent to payment, which in this case was completion of the appraisal process, does not absolve insurer of its statutory duty to comply with section 624.155
47 Fla. L. Weekly D633b GERALD WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. STATE FARM FLORIDA INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. 2nd District. Case No. 2D20-2092. March 16, 2022. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Emmett Lamar Battles, Judge. Counsel: George A. Vaka and Nancy A. Lauten of Vaka Law Group, Tampa; and Kelly L. Kubiak of Merlin Law […]
Torts — Proposal for settlement — Attorney’s fees — Ambiguous proposal — Action involving initial proposal which was directed to both defendants and a subsequent proposal served on only one defendant — Defendants’ rejection of initial offer did not entitle plaintiff to fee award — Initial proposal was fatally amorphous where it did not demand that the defendants consent to a judgment in the amount specified, require defendants to pay that sum, specify when payment must be made, or obligate plaintiff to dismiss his claims upon receipt of payment — Plaintiff entitled to fees from date of second proposal, but only as to the defendant it was served upon
47 Fla. L. Weekly D633a NANCY WARD HARRIS and WILLIAM LOUIS HARRIS, Appellants/Cross-Appellees, v. RICHARD TINER, Appellee/Cross-Appellant, and METROPOLITAN GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. RICHARD TINER, Appellee/Cross-Appellant. 2nd District. Case Nos. 2D20-2290 and 2D20-2313. (Consolidated) March 16, 2022. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Lee County; James R. Shenko, Judge. Counsel: Jesse R. Butler of […]
Insurance — Commercial general liability — Coverage — Bodily injury — Duty to defend and indemnify — Exclusions — Insured bar is entitled to summary judgment on issue of coverage under commercial general liability insurance policy for underlying action against insured in connection with injuries suffered by bar patron as a result of allegedly being struck by bar owner — Expected or intended injury exclusion — Assault and battery exclusion — Insurer has a duty to defend insured bar against claims of injured patron in underlying tort action because the factual allegations in the underlying action “fairly and potentially” fall within Reasonable Force Exception in the Expected or Intended Injury Exclusion, which preserves coverage for “bodily injury” resulting from use of reasonable force to protect persons or property and triggers insurer’s duty to defend — Coverage is patently ambiguous, and must be construed in favor of insured bar, where Reasonable Force Exception and Assault and Battery Exclusion, when read together, are facially unclear and are ambiguous as to when insured’s use of “reasonable force to protect persons or property” would be covered — Where underlying action alleges that bar owner was attempting to block bar patron from entering into the establishment and, in the ensuing contact, bar patron was injured when he fell and struck his head, facts could “fairly and potentially” implicate coverage under the Reasonable Force Exception — Insurer has a duty to indemnify insured for any monetary damages paid in connection with underlying action and injuries allegedly suffered by bar patron where policy is patently ambiguous, and, giving every provision “its full meaning and operative effect,” the policy excludes coverage for all claims arising from assault and/or battery with exception of claims involving “reasonable force to protect persons or property” — Insurer’s duty to indemnify is ripe for adjudication in this declaratory judgment action where two of four counts in underlying action were voluntarily dismissed and final judgment was entered on remaining counts against insured bar and its owner — Insurer’s cross-motion for summary judgment is denied where insurer did not offer any contradictory facts to create a material dispute of fact as to whether the force used by defendant owner was “reasonable”
29 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D59a BARAKI, INC., f/k/a Opa Greek Cafe, Inc., and JEFFREY GRABOWSKI, Plaintiffs, v. COVINGTON SPECIALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division. Case No. 8:18-cv-2313-MSS-SPF. December 7, 2021. Mary S. Scriven, Judge. Counsel: James J. Dowling, James J. Dowling, P.A., Tarpon Springs; and Gerasimos “Jerry” […]