25 Fla. L. Weekly D1294d
Appeals — Insurance — Final judgment dismissing declaratory judgment action in which insured sought declaration that she could accept settlement offer without prejudicing her claim to underinsured motorist benefits was not appealable where insured still has pending claims against insurer for underinsured motorist benefits and loss of consortium — Appeal dismissed
RICHARD P. DALOLA and MARGARET V. DALOLA, Appellants, v. VALERIE P. BARBER, et al., Appellees. 5th District. Case No. 5D00-64. Opinion filed March 10, 2000. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Volusia County, Robert K. Rouse, Judge. Counsel: Stephan W. Carter, Winter Park, and Hae J. Kim of Wooten, Honeywell & Kest, P.A., Orlando, for Appellants. David C. Knapp of Rogers, Dowling, Fleming & Coleman, P.A., Orlando, for Appellee Government Employees Insurance Company.CORRECTED OPINION[Original Opinion at 25 Fla. L. WeeklyD624a]
[Editor’s note: The sixth paragraph of the opinion has been corrected to read as follows:]
Piecemeal appeals are not allowed for claims that are legally interrelated and which substantively involve the same transaction. See Mendez v. West Flagler Family Ass’n, Inc., 303 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1974); Lemon v. Groniger, 708 So. 2d 1027 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998). In Lemon, this court said:
… Only where a separate and distinct cause of action is pleaded which is not interdependent with the other pleaded claims, should it be appealable if dismissed with finality at the trial level. [citations omitted].
Id. at 1026. Relying upon Altair Maintenance Services, Inc. v. GBS Excavating, Inc., 655 So. 2d 1281 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), this court further held that
… an appeal is premature where an order deals with the same transaction, and the parties are involved in counts which are undisposed. The test to determine whether counts of a multicount complaint are interrelated, so as to preclude a piecemeal appeal, is whether the counts arise from a set of common facts or a single transaction, not whether different legal theories or additional facts are involved in separate counts…. Altair Maintenance.
Lemon, 708 So. 2d at 1026-1027.
