24 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 752a
Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2409TRAPInsurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Interrogatories — Better answers are required to interrogatories concerning methods used by insurer to determine amount payable for medical bills, reimbursement levels in community and usual and customary charges; facts and witnesses in support of affirmative defenses; and persons involved in review of medical bills
RONALD J. TRAPANA, MD, P.A., (a/a/o Barrett, Shaunte 2), Plaintiff, v. STAR CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. County Court, 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County. Case No. COCE 12-14938 (55). October 31, 2016. Daniel J. Kanner, Judge. Counsel: Robert B. Goldman, Florida Advocates, Dania Beach, for Plaintiff. Mark D. Bartle, Roig Lawyers, Deerfield Beach, for Defendant.
AGREED ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’SMOTION TO OVERRULE DEFENDANT’SOBJECTIONS AND COMPEL BETTERANSWERS TO INTERROGATORIES
THIS CAUSE having come before the Court upon the agreement of counsel with regard to Plaintiff’s Motion to Overrule Defendant’s Objections and Compel Better Answers to interrogatory nos. 6, 8, 9, 11, 15 and 20 of Plaintiff’s First Set of Interrogatories to Defendant served March 20, 2013, and the Court having considered the motion and the interrogatories for which Plaintiff has sought to overrule Defendant’s objections and compel better answers, and being otherwise fully advised, it is
ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion is GRANTED, and the Defendant shall have up through November 20, 2016 within which to provide better answers to the following interrogatories, without reference to extraneous documents that are not attached to the interrogatory answers:
Interrogatory No. 6.
Describe the exact method by which you calculated the amount payable for the medical bills, submitted to you by the Plaintiff, which are at issue in this case.
Interrogatory No. 8
Is it your contention that the amount of the payment previously made by you for the medical bills at issue in this case were correctly calculated under the terms of the Policy? If so, please specify the policy section on which your calculation was based, the page on which the policy language you contends to be controlling can be found, along with the specific language of the policy and endorsement that you relied on in determining that the amount of your payment to the Plaintiff was correct.
Interrogatory No. 9
Please state the facts on which you rely for each affirmative defense you have raised, together with the name . . . of each and every person that you intend to call as a witness to testify to support your affirmative defenses, and the substance of their expected testimony.
Interrogatory No. 11
List the name, address and official position of each and every person in your employ or in the employment of anyone on your behalf, who has had any involvement whatsoever in the review of the medical bills submitted by the Plaintiff, for the determination that payment of the bill in the amount of 80% of the billed amount was not reasonable pursuant to Florida Statutes § 627.736, and state in what capacity each person was involved, the dates when they were involved, and the exact nature of their involvement.
Interrogatory No. 15
Describe, in detail, what method you employed to determine reimbursement levels in the community under Sec. 627.736, Fla. Stat. for the medical bills submitted by the Plaintiff, what geographical area was considered in respect to this claim, and specify the names of the providers in the geographical area considered, the amount of their charges for the same type of diagnostic procedure as in this case, and whether or not you relied on this information in determining what amount of charge and/or payment would be reasonable pursuant to Sec. 627.736, Fla. Stat. for the medical bills at issue in this case.
Interrogatory No. 20
Describe with detail any manuals, studies, statistics, compiled data or other similar sources upon which you relied to determine what a usual and customary charge is for the medical bills at issue in this case under Sec. 627.736, Fla. Stat.
