11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 937b
Insurance — Personal injury protection — Standing — Assignment — Medical provider’s motion to amend complaint to substitute name of correct provider to which benefits were assigned is denied as motion seeks not to merely correct scrivener’s error but to substitute entirely different legal person or entity and will prejudice insurer
VINCENT PREZIOSI, D.C., d/b/a EAST/WEST ORLANDO CHIROPRACTIC CLINIC as assignee of TIFFANY CRUZ, Plaintiff, v. PROGRESSIVE EXPRESS INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. County Court, 18th Judicial Circuit in and for Seminole County. Case No. 02-CC-4328-20U. June 11, 2004. Donald L. Marblestone, Judge. Counsel: Paul B. Fulmer, III, Rissman, Weisberg, Barrett, Hurt, Donahue & McLain, P.A., Orlando. Paul Perkins, Jr.
ORDER
THIS CAUSE, having come before the Honorable Donald L. Marblestone on June 2, 2004, upon Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to Amend its Complaint, and the Court having been fully advised in the premises, it is hereby
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED as follows:
1. On July 9, 2002, PROGRESSIVE’s insured, Tiffany Cruz, assigned her rights to PIP insurance coverage to Vincent Preziosi, D.C./C.V. Rehabilitation.
2. On or about December 12, 2002, Vincent Preziosi, D.C. d/b/a as East/West Orlando Chiropractic Clinic, a/a/o Tiffany Cruz, filed suit against PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE COMPANY. The suit was served on December 2, 2002.
3. PROGRESSIVE filed its answer on December 13, 2002, alleging that the Plaintiff did not have standing to initiate or maintain this suit.
4. On May 5, 2004, Vincent Preziosi, D.C. d/b/a East/West Orlando Chiropractic Clinic, a/a/o Tiffany Cruz, filed its Motion for Leave to Amend its Complaint, requesting permission to substitute the party’s name.
5. An assignment has to be made to a legal person or to a legal corporation.
6. PROGRESSIVE will be prejudiced by any substitution of parties due to the needless litigation for the past eighteen (18) months, the attorney fee exposure for that eighteen (18) months of litigation, and avoidance of pre-suit demand requirements.
7. The case law argued by Plaintiff’s counsel does not apply. This is not a scrivener’s error. This is an attempt to substitute an entirely different legal person or entity.
8. Standing was determined at the time the suit was filed. 1Allowing a substitution of parties at this time will circumvent the pre-suit requirements of Florida Statute §627.736.
9. Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to Amend its Complaint is DENIED. It will prejudice the Defendant and is an improper attempt to substitute the party plaintiff.
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1If this suit would have been filed after October 1, 2003, a fifteen (15) day demand letter with a valid Assignment of Benefits would have been served fifteen (15) days prior to filing it. See Florida Statute §627.736(11).
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