15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 386b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Declaratory judgment — CPT coding — Medical provider has stated viable cause of action for declaratory relief regarding recoding by insurer

DADE INJURY REHABILITATION, INC. Florida Corporation (assignee of West, Esther), Plaintiff, v. PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. County Court, 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County. Case No. 07-12885 CC 23 (04). January 28, 2008. Eric Wm. Hendon, Judge. Counsel: Russel Lazega, Law Office of Russel Lazega, P.A., North Miami, for Plaintiff. Luis N. Perez, for Defendant.

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS COUNT I (DECLARATORY RELIEFRE: DEFENDANT’S RECODING OF CPT CODE 97014)

THIS CAUSE, came before the court for hearing on January 28, 2008, and the court, having reviewed the Motion, the court file, legal authorities and having heard argument of counsel, finds as follows:

Factual Background:This is a multi-count P.I.P. case. Count I claims declaratory relief (regarding whether Defendant may recode CPT Code 97014 to G0283); Count II is a claim for breach of contract (claiming Defendant breached the P.I.P. statute, and therefore the contract, by recoding CPT code 97014 to G0283) and Count III is a claim for breach of contract for failure to provide P.I.P. benefits.

Conclusions of Law:Actions for declaratory relief are to be liberally allowed. See Higgins v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 894 So. 2d 5 (Fla. 2004). Based on the four-corners of the complaint, Plaintiff has stated a viable cause of action for declaratory relief. Barbado v. Green & Murphy, P.A., 758 So. 2d 1173 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000) (holding “[a] motion to dismiss tests the legal sufficiency of the complaint” and “[a] court may not go beyond the four corners of the complaint in considering the legal sufficiency of the allegations”).

Accordingly, it is hereby

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is DENIED. Defendant shall respond to the complaint within 20 days.