45 Fla. L. Weekly D411b
290 So. 3d 1090
Insurance — Appraisal — Disinterested appraiser — Insured’s public adjuster, who is entitled to contingency fee from recovered insurance proceeds, is not authorized to serve as insured’s disinterested appraiser
STATE FARM FLORIDA INSURANCE COMPANY, Petitioner, v. CATHERINE CADET, Respondent. 5th District. Case No. 5D19-2291. February 21, 2020. Petition for Certiorari Review of Order from the Circuit Court for Brevard County, George T. Paulk, Judge. Counsel: Robert A. Kingsford, Lynn S. Alfano, and Christopher J. Goodrum, of Alfano Kingsford, P.A., Maitland; Kara Rockenbach Link, and David A. Noel, of Link & Rockenbach, PA, West Palm Beach, for Petitioner. Matthew G. Struble and Christine Skubala, of Struble, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for Respondent.
(PER CURIAM.) In this first-tier certiorari proceeding, State Farm Florida Insurance Company asks this Court to quash the trial court’s order, which authorized its insured’s public adjuster, who is entitled to a contingency fee from any recovered insurance proceeds, to serve as a “disinterested appraiser” under the insurance contract’s alternative dispute resolution provision. We recently addressed this identical issue, determining that an insured’s public adjuster could not act as a disinterested appraiser in these circumstances. State Farm Fla. Ins. v. Crispin, 45 Fla. L. Weekly D288a (Fla. 5th DCA Feb. 7, 2020). As such, we quash the trial court’s order. See also State Farm Fla. Ins. v. Valenti, 285 So. 3d 958 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019); State Farm Fla. Ins. v. Sanders, 44 Fla. L. Weekly D1901 (Fla. 3d DCA July 24, 2019); Fla. Ins. Guar. Ass’n v. Branco, 148 So. 3d 488, 490 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014).
CERTIORARI GRANTED; ORDER QUASHED. (ORFINGER, COHEN and EDWARDS, JJ., concur.)
