27 Fla. L. Weekly D1189b

Insurance — Appraisal — Appeals — Law of the case — Appeal from nonfinal order compelling appraisal affirmed on ground that prior appeal serves as law of the case — Adherence to law of case will not result in manifest injustice, even though law of district has since changed

ALLSTATE INSURANCE CO., Appellant, v. ZENAIDA PEREZ, Appellee. 3rd District. Case No. 3D01-3283. L.T. Case No. 97-16953. Opinion filed May 22, 2002. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Gerald D. Hubbart, Judge. Counsel: Angones, Hunter, McClure, Lynch, Williams & Garcia and Christopher Lynch, for appellant. Harold B. Klite Truppman; Lauri Waldman Ross and Theresa L. Girten, for appellee.

(Before JORGENSON and GERSTEN, JJ., and NESBITT, Senior Judge.)

(PER CURIAM.) Allstate Insurance Company appeals from a nonfinal order compelling appraisal. We affirm on the basis of the prior appeal in this case, Perez v. Allstate Ins. Co., 709 So. 2d 591 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998), as that opinion serves as law of the case. Adherence to the law of the case will not result in a manifest injustice, even though the law of the district has since changed with our en banc decision in United States Fid. & Guar. Ins. Co. v. Romay, 744 So. 2d 467 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999).

An appellate court should reconsider a point of law previously decided on a former appeal only as a matter of grace, and not as a matter of right; and that an exception to the general rule binding the parties to “the law of the case” at the retrial and at all subsequent proceedings should not be made except in unusual circumstances and for the most part cogent reasons — and as always, of course, only where “manifest injustice” will result from a strict and rigid adherence to the rule.

Strazzulla v. Hendrick, 177 So. 2d 1, 4 (Fla. 1965)(citation omitted).

AFFIRMED.