40 Fla. L. Weekly D574a
159 So. 3d 285
Insurance — Bad faith — Discovery — Premature action — Appeals — Certiorari — Nonfinal order denying motion to dismiss premature bad faith action is not subject to interlocutory review — Petition for certiorari review dismissed without prejudice to defendants’ moving to abate bad faith action — Discovery — Petition granted with respect to claim that trial court erred in overruling objection to plaintiff’s premature bad faith discovery requests
UNITED AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY and JAMES BAYLIS, Petitioners, v. RIVERSIDE MEDICAL ASSOCIATES, INC., a/a/o NORMANDEL BURKE, ISMAIL SARABI and JORGE DE LA O, Respondents. 4th District. Case No. 4D14-1535. March 4, 2015. Petition for writ of certiorari to the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Thomas Lynch, IV, Judge; L.T. Case No. 13-13358 CACE05. Counsel: Thomas L. Hunker, Miami, for petitioners. Philip D. Parrish of Philip D. Parrish, P.A., Miami, and Henry A. Seiden, West Palm Beach, for respondents.
(PER CURIAM.) Defendants United Automobile Insurance Company and James Baylis seek certiorari review of the circuit court’s nonfinal order: (1) denying their motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s premature bad faith action; and (2) overruling their objections to the plaintiff’s premature bad faith discovery requests.
We grant the petition as to the discovery objections. See State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Tranchese, 49 So. 3d 809, 810 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010) (granting petition for certiorari on the basis that, “until the obligation to provide coverage and damages has been determined, a party is not entitled to discovery related to the claims file[ ] or to the insurer’s business policies or practices regarding handling of claims”) (citation omitted).
We dismiss the petition as to the denial of the motion to dismiss. See State Farm Ins. Co. v. Ulrich, 120 So. 3d 217, 219 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) (“A nonfinal order denying a motion to dismiss an insurance bad faith action is not subject to interlocutory review via petition for writ of certiorari.”). However, our dismissal is without prejudice to the defendants’ moving to abate the bad faith action. See Tranchese, 49 So. 3d at 810 (“We grant the petition [for certiorari] as to the abatement, because the final determination of coverage and damages for the underlying claim has not been made, which must precede a statutory bad faith action.”).
Petition granted in part, dismissed in part. (GROSS, CIKLIN and GERBER, JJ., concur.)
