20 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 123a
Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2002SEVIInsurance — Personal injury protection — Demand letter — Demand letters which contained incorrect claim numbers and either failed to reference policy number or referenced incorrect policy number were legally insufficient — Trial court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of insurer due to insufficiency of demand letters
AMERICAN MOBILE HEALTH SERVICES (a/a/o Jose Sevillano), I & J REHABILITATION CENTER INC. (a/a/o Jose Sevillano), AMERICAN MOBILE HEALTH SERVICES (a/a/o Andy Rodriguez), AMERICAN MOBILE HEALTH SERVICES (a/a/o Juan Rosario), Appellants, vs. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE CO., Appellee. Circuit Court, 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Appellate Division. Case No. 10-403 AP; 10-402 AP; 10-399 AP; 10-398 AP consolidated. L.T. Case No. 07-33886 SP 23; 07-33890 SP 23; 07-33884 SP 23; 07-033883 SP 23. December 20, 2012. An appeal from a decision by the County Court in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, Linda S. Stein, Judge. Counsel: Marlene S. Reiss, for Appellant. Elizabeth Shaw Connolly, Nancy W. Gregoire, and Fernando L. Roig, for Appellees.
(Before PEDRO P. ECHARTE, JR., SPENCER EIG, and BEATRICE BUTCHKO, JJ.)
Upon filing of the parties’ Joint Motion for Rehearing on December 7, 2012; and with due consideration thereon, the original Opinion entered in this matter on November 26, 2012 is withdrawn, and the Court hereby enters this substituted Amended Opinion:
(PER CURIAM.) Jose Sevillano, Andy Rodriguez, and Juan Rosario were all treated by American Mobile Health Services as a result of injuries they suffered in an automobile accident which occurred on October 18, 2005. Sevillano was also treated by I & J Rehabilitation Center, Inc. for his injuries. Thereafter, in an effort to comply with the pre-suit requirements of section 627.736 Florida Statutes (2005), the Appellants (health care providers) sent the Appellee (State Farm) demand letters for each of the four lawsuits they filed. Each of the demand letters, however, contained incorrect claim numbers. Furthermore, to compound the problem, three of the pre-suit demand letters did not contain any policy number and the fourth demand letter referenced an incorrect policy number.
The trial court granted summary judgment for the Appellee in all four cases due to the legal insufficiency of demand letters which did not provide State Farm with the required statutory notice of intent to initiate litigation. Section 627.736(11), Florida Statutes (2005) requires, as a condition precedent to filing any action, that the insurer be provided with written notice of an intent to initiate litigation which “shall state with specificity. . . [t]he claim number or policy number upon which such claim was originally submitted to the insurer.”
We hereby AFFIRM the trial court’s decisions concerning all four of the cases being appealed herein involving Jose Sevillano, Andy Rodriguez, and Juan Rosario.
Appellant’s Motion for Appellate Attorneys Fees is DENIED.
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