32 Fla. L. Weekly D380a
Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Bad faith — Trial court departed from essential requirements of law in denying insurer’s motion to dismiss statutory claim for bad faith under sections 624.155 and 626.9541 where extent of damages has not been determined — Insurer will suffer irreparable harm, which includes discovery of accident file, if it is forced to defend against both UM claim and bad faith claim simultaneously — Remand with instructions to dismiss or abate bad faith claim until UM claim is resolved
PROGRESSIVE SELECT INSURANCE COMPANY, Petitioner, v. STUART SHOCKLEY, Respondent. 4th District. Case No. 4D06-4602. February 7, 2007. Petition for writ of certiorari to the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Kenneth Stern, Judge; L.T. Case No. 502006CA0007512XXXXMB. Counsel: John J. Wilke of Wilke & Brooks, P.A., Boca Raton, and Robert I. Buchsbaum of Kramer, Green, Zuckerman, Greene and Buchsbaum, P.A., Hollywood, for petitioner. John J. Hoffman of Hoffman & Morris, LLC, Singer Island, for respondent.
(Per Curiam.) Progressive seeks a writ of certiorari to quash the trial court’s order denying its motion to dismiss a statutory claim for bad faith under sections 624.155 and 626.9541, Florida Statutes (2006). We grant the petition because both the existence of liability and the extent of damages are elements of a statutory cause of action for bad faith, and in this case the extent of damages has not been determined. In allowing this case to proceed before damages have been determined, the trial court has departed from the essential requirements of law. Blanchard v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 575 So. 2d 1289 (Fla. 1991). For the reasons expressed by the first district in Vanguard Fire & Casualty Co. v. Golmon, 31 Fla. L. Weekly D2835 (Fla. 1st DCA Nov. 15, 2006), we agree with Progressive that it will suffer irreparable harm, which includes discovery of its accident file, if it is forced to defend against both the UM claim and the bad faith claim simultaneously. We therefore grant the petition and remand for the trial court to either dismiss the bad faith claim or abate the bad faith claim until the UM claim is resolved. (Klein, Shahood and Taylor, JJ., concur.)
