16 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 772a
Online Reference: FLWSUPP 168LYNAM
Insurance — Personal injury protection — Notice of loss — Acknowledgment and disclosure form — Sufficiency — D&A form describing services as “evaluation new patient & therapy” was sufficient to describe services that included physical therapy evaluation, manual therapy, ultrasound and E-Stim — Medical provider was not required to list all four therapy services individually on form
BOCA MEDICAL THERAPY INC. (Roy Lynam), Plaintiff, v. USAA CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. County Court, 15th Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County. Case No. 50-2008-SC-11506-XXXX-SB-RD. May 18, 2009. James L. Martz, Judge. Counsel: Chad L. Christensen, Ellis, Ged & Bodden, P.A., Boca Raton, for Plaintiff. Joseph G. Murasko, Vernis & Bowling of Palm Beach, P.A., North Palm Beach, for Defendant.
ORDER ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
COMES NOW, the Court having considered the Motion, supporting affidavits, opposition, opposition affidavits and deposition testimony and, oral argument on March 27, 2009 finds as follows:UNDISPUTED FACTS
1. Defendant moves for Summary Judgment on the grounds of a deficient description of the services described at paragraph one on the Office of Insurance Regulation Standard Disclosure and Acknowledgment form.
2. It is undisputed the form describes the services, for the initial date of service as “evaluation new patient & therapy”. It is undisputed that the bill for the initial date of service contains four charges.
3. It is undisputed that one charge is for physical therapy evaluation (deposition transcript, Marianne Hallas, p. 24).
4. It is undisputed that the remaining three charges are for manual therapy, ultrasound, and E-Stim. (Deposition testimony of Marianne Hallas, p. 28-30).
RULING
5. The Court Denies Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment finding that the description provided is sufficient relative to the treatment which was billed. The Plaintiff was not required to have all four therapy services which were billed individually listed on the standard Disclosure and Acknowledgment form (page 8, lines 16-25).
6. As a matter of law, the Court finds that the facts of this case do not support as a matter of law Summary Judgment for Defendant. [Editor’s note: body of opinion contained no reference to footnote.1]
__________________
1The Court should mention that this ruling is limited to the facts in this case and, for example, should not be construed to give rise to arguments that, for further example, “medical treatment” would suffice across the board in all instances.
