47 Fla. L. Weekly D101a RONNIE AARON RONDELL, Appellant, v. DANIEL ROMANO, CUONG VI DIEP, and TAI CHI DIEP, Appellees. 2nd District. Case No. 2D20-2840. January 5, 2022. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Paul L. Huey, Judge. Counsel: Robin P. Keener of Stoler Russell Keener Verona P.A., Tampa, for Appellant. Kenneth E. […]
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Insurance — Assignment of benefits — Payment — Check for assignee’s invoice made payable to both assignee and insured and mailed to insured’s home address in contravention of instructions listed in AOB agreement which was provided to insurer — No error in granting summary judgment in favor of insurer based on assignee’s acknowledgment that a check for full payment was issued and mailed well before the lawsuit was filed — Although insurer did not abide by instructions in AOB agreement, an insurer cannot breach an agreement to which it has no privity — While an AOB agreement grants the assignee the qualified right to enforce the insurance policy, it does not grant assignee the right to enforce against the insurer terms from an AOB agreement that are extraneous to the insurance policy itself — Section 679.4061 has no applicability to an insurance claim — Additionally, because AOB was not unqualified, insurer was not entirely free to disregard its insured in paying the claim
47 Fla. L. Weekly D127a EXPERT INSPECTIONS, LLC d/b/a ITEST d/b/a MOLDEXPERT.COM a/a/o PAT BECKFORD, Appellant, v. UNITED PROPERTY & CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D21-547. January 5, 2022. Appeal from the County Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Louis H. Schiff, Judge; L.T. Case Nos. CONO19-008142 and CACE20-0014553. Counsel: […]
Insurance — Bad faith — Whether insurer acted in good faith toward insured in resolving claim was issue of fact for jury given different inferences that could be drawn from facts at hand — Trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of insurer
47 Fla. L. Weekly D107e WENDY FIRTELL and BRIAN FIRTELL, Appellants, v. USAA CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D20-1878. January 5, 2022. Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Jeffrey Levenson, Judge; L.T. Case No. 18-017831 CACE (09). Counsel: Robert C. Hubbard and George A. Vaka of […]
Torts — Costs — Offer of judgment — Judgment less than 25 percent of offer — Calculation — Trial court erred in awarding plaintiff all of his requested costs despite the fact that plaintiff obtained an underlying judgment that was at least 25 percent less than the amount defendant had offered to settle the case for in two offers of judgment — Plaintiff was entitled only to the costs that were incurred up until the first offer of judgment was made, rather than all costs that plaintiff incurred up until underlying judgment was rendered
47 Fla. L. Weekly D89c JOSHUA MADDOX, Appellant, v. BRADY J. TROMBETTA, Appellee. 2nd District. Case No. 2D20-3663. January 5, 2022. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Paul L. Huey, Judge. Counsel: Kansas R. Gooden of Boyd & Jenerette, P.A., Miami; and Joanna S. Brunell of Boyd & Jenerette, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellant. […]
Attorney’s fees — Offer of judgment — Torts — Legal malpractice — Trial court properly awarded attorney’s fees to attorney whose offer of judgment was rejected and who obtained judgment of no liability despite fact that attorney’s law firm was contractually obligated to indemnify, and did indemnify attorney — Statute permits recovery of fees “incurred on the defendant’s behalf” — Apportionment of fees between individual attorney and defendant law firm, which did not join in attorney’s offer of judgment, was not appropriate because fees incurred in defending both attorney and firm, which was sued under theory of respondeat superior/vicarious liability, were the same
46 Fla. L. Weekly D2575a AVRA JAIN, Appellant, v. BUCHANAN INGERSOLL & ROONEY PC, etc., et al., Appellees. 3rd District. Case No. 3D20-1529. L.T. Case No. 17-26857. December 1, 2021. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Michael A. Hanzman, Judge. Counsel: Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, and Bruce A. Weil, Steven W. Davis, […]