28 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 72a
Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2801JOHN
Insurance — Personal injury protection — Limitation of actions — Motion for rehearing of order dismissing hospital’s action against PIP insurer because complaint was filed after expiration of limitations period as measured from date of service is granted — Critical date for determining whether statute of limitations has run is date on which insurer breached its duty to pay, not date of service — Order granting motion to dismiss is set aside — Complaint does not allege date on which hospital submitted bill to insurer, and hospital, unlike other medical providers, is not required to submit bill within 35 days of date of service
MUNROE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, INC. a/a/o Tarisha Johnson, Plaintiff, v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. County Court, 5th Judicial Circuit in and for Marion County. Case No. 18 SC 3819. February 25, 2020. Sarah Ritterhoff Williams, Judge. Counsel: Robert B. Goldman, Florida Advocates, Dania Beach, for Plaintiff. Mary M. Rychlik, Law Office of Robert J. Smith, Orlando, for Defendant.
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO SET ASIDE DISMISSAL
THIS CAUSE having come before the court on February 13, 2020, upon Plaintiff’s Motion to Set Aside the Court’s Order on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, and the Court having considered the Plaintiff’s motion, having heard argument of counsel and being otherwise fully advised, it is hereupon
ORDERED that Plaintiff’s Motion to Set Aside Order of Dismissal is GRANTED, for the following reasons:
1. Plaintiff’s complaint alleges, inter alia, that on or about March 21, 2010, Tarisha Johnson was injured in a motor vehicle accident, as a result of which she received treatment that day at Munroe Regional Medical Center (the “Hospital”), that the Hospital billed Allstate Insurance Company (“Allstate”) for such treatment and that Allstate failed to pay all sums due.
2. Defendant’s motion to dismiss asserts that “per the court docket, this action was filed on October 5, 2018, over eight years past the date of service alleged in the Complaint and after the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations.”
3. At the November 20, 2018 pretrial conference, the Court granted Defendant’s motion to dismiss, based upon Defendant’s argument that the statute of limitations had run. On October 8, 2019, the Court entered its Order on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss.
4. On October 23, 2019, Plaintiff filed and served its Motion to Set Aside the October 8, 2019 Order granting Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. The Court treats that motion as a Rule 1.530, Fla.R.Civ.P. motion for rehearing, as the motion was served within 15 days of the Court’s Order.
5. The critical date in determining whether the statute of limitations has run in this case is not Tarisha Johnson’s date of service at the Hospital, but rather, the date on which Allstate breached its obligation to pay. See, e.g., State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Lee, 678 So.2d 818 (Fla. 1996) [21 Fla. L. Weekly S335a]
6. Allstate could not have breached its obligation to pay until Allstate had been presented with a bill, and the Hospital was under no requirement to submit a bill for services within 35 days of the rendition of the services, as would be the case with other medical providers. Sec. 627.736(5)(b)(2)(c), Fla. Stat.
7. Since the Complaint does not contain an allegation as to when the Hospital submitted a bill to Allstate and this Court is bound by the four corners of the Complaint in ruling upon a motion to dismiss, Restorations Unlimited (a/a/o Gerlanda Lombardi) v. Safe Harbor Ins. Co., 22 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 362b (5th Jud. Cir. in and for Marion County, 2014), the Court agrees that the October 8, 2019 Order on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss should be set aside.
8. Accordingly, the October 8, 2019 Order is hereby set aside and the clerk of the court is directed to re-open the court file.
