20 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 151a
Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2002GRINInsurance — Personal injury protection — Plaintiff’s motion to amend complaint to correct name of defendant insurer is granted — Operative issues in this case show that the defendant named in the original complaint and defendant named in amended complaint are “sufficiently related”; that defendant knew plaintiff was making claim for unpaid PIP benefits prior to filing suit with the receipt of the pre-suit demand letter; and that plaintiff moved to amend in a timely manner and caused no prejudice to defendant
MOORE CHIROPRACTIC CENTER, INC. A/A/O ASHLEY GRINNELL Plaintiff, v. UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION, Defendant. County Court, 4th Judicial Circuit in and for Clay County. Case No. 2012-SC-1078 (C). November 30, 2012. Timothy R. Collins, Judge. Counsel: Adam Saben, Shuster & Saben, LLC, Miami, for Plaintiff. Phillip McCormick, Herssein & Herssein, Tampa, for Defendant.
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTIONTO AMEND COMPLAINT
THIS MATTER having come before the Court for hearing on November 27, 2012, on Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend Complaint. It is hereby ORDERED and ADJUDGED as follows:
1. Plaintiff seeks to amend its Complaint to correct the name of the Defendant from UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION to USAA CASUALTY COMPANY.
2. This Court is cognizant of the public policy regarding the amending of pleadings by the parties, especially when such amendment is done early during the litigation of a case and when such amendment results in no prejudice to the non-moving party. See, Craig v. East Pasco Medical Center, 650 So.2d 179 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995) (“the public policy of this state [is] to freely allow amendments so that cases may be resolved on the merits”). “As a general rule, refusal to allow amendment of a pleading constitutes an abuse of discretion unless it clearly appears that allowing the amendment would prejudice the opposing party; the privilege to amend has been abused; or amendment would be futile.” Bill Williams Air Conditioning & Heating, Inc. v. Haymarket Cooperative Bank, 592 So.2d 302, 305 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991).
3. In this case, Plaintiff provided documentation to the Court (that is not disputed by the Defendant) showing the home address between United Services Automobile Association and USAA Casualty Insurance Company is exactly the same; the administrative address is exactly the same; the mailing address is exactly the same; and, the contact person for PIP claims, Alan L. Bunge, is exactly the same. Additionally, the Plaintiff produced a copy of the Defendant’s response to Plaintiff’s Pre-suit Demand Letter sent to United Services Automobile Association. Notably, the Defendant’s response makes no mention of placing the “wrong carrier” on notice, nor does it mention that the claimant was not insured by United Services Automobile Association. Such notice would have given the Plaintiff a fair opportunity to send another Pre-suit Demand Letter prior to filing suit. Instead, the Defendant tendered an amount of PIP benefits with its response letter, suggesting that the Plaintiff properly named the correct Defendant carrier. At a minimum, such action shows there is no prejudice to the Defendant with the Plaintiff amending its Complaint to properly name the correct carrier, USAA CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY.
4. The operative issues in this case show that UNITED STATES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION and USAA CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY are “sufficiently related”; that the Defendant knew that the Plaintiff was making a claim for unpaid PIP benefits prior to filing suit with the receipt of the Pre-suit Demand Letter; and, that the Plaintiff moved to amend its Complaint in a timely manner as to cause no prejudice to the Defendant. See, Physician’s Rehab Group, Inc. a/a/o Jose Quintero v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 17 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 199a (Fla. Miami-Dade County Order of Judge Myriam Lehr, December 11, 2009).
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend Complaint is GRANTED and Defendant has twenty (20) days to file its Answer to said Amended Complaint.
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