28 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 465a
Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2806VDELInsurance — Personal injury protection — Summary judgment — Error to reject affidavit of expert on reasonableness of charges and relatedness and medical necessity of treatment
UNITED AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. COUNTY LINE CHIROPRACTIC CENTER, INC., a/a/o Vicente Delgado, Appellee. Circuit Court, 11th Judicial Circuit (Appellate) in and for Miami-Dade County. Case No. 2018-217-AP-01. L.T. Case No. 10-4569-CC-23. August 11, 2020. On Appeal from County Court in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, Hon. Linda Singer Stein, Judge. Counsel: Michael J. Neimand, House Counsel for United Automobile Insurance Company, for Appellant. G. Bart Billbrough, Billbrough & Marks, P.A. for Appellee.
(Before TRAWICK, WALSH, and GINA BEOVIDES, JJ.)
OPINION
(PER CURIAM.) United Auto Insurance Company (“UAIC”) appeals the trial court’s order granting final summary judgment on behalf of County Line Chiropractic Center, Inc. (“Provider”). Here, the trial court rejected the conflicting affidavit offered by UAIC of Dr. Don Morris, and summary judgment was granted on the Provider’s Motion for Summary Judgment regarding Reasonableness, Relatedness and Medical Necessity.
As this panel and the majority of prior panels from this Court have found, it was an abuse of discretion to exclude UAIC’s conflicting affidavit on whether the medical bills at issue were reasonable in price, the medical treatment was related to the accident, and the prescribed diagnostic testing, treatment, and services were medically necessary. Taking UAIC’s excluded affidavit into account, it was error to grant summary judgment. See United Auto. Ins. Co. v. Miami-Dade MRI a/a/o Bermudez, 2018-164 (Fla. 11th Cir. Ct. June 3, 2020) [28 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 299a]; State Farm Mutual Ins. Co. v. Gables Insurance Recovery a/a/o Yuderis Rego, 27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 860a (Fla. 11th Cir. Ct. Nov. 20, 2019); United Automobile Insurance Co. v. Open MRI of Miami Dade, Ltd. a/a/o Rosa Castillo, Case No. 2017-326-AP-01 (Fla. 11th Cir. Ct. Nov. 6, 2019) [27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 791b]; United Automobile Insurance Co., Appellant, v. Miami Dade County MRI, Corp. a/a/o Marta Figueredo, 27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 506b (Fla. 11th Cir. App. July 30, 2019); United Automobile Insurance Co., Appellant, v. Miami Dade County MRI, Corp. a/a/o Javier Rodriguez, 27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 225c (Fla. 11th Cir. Ct. July 25, 2019); United Automobile Insurance Co., Appellant, v. Miami Dade County MRI, Corp. a/a/o Rene Dechard, 27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 226a (Fla. 11th Cir. Ct., August 12, 2019); United Automobile Insurance Co., Appellant, v. Millennium Radiology, LLC a/a/o Javier Rodriguez, 25 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 911b (Fla. 11th Cir. Ct. July 19, 2019).
Accordingly, the summary judgment and final judgment entered below are hereby REVERSED, and this cause is REMANDED to the trial court.
Appellee’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees is DENIED. Appellant’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees is conditionally GRANTED (conditioned upon Appellant ultimately prevailing and the enforceability of the proposal for settlement) and REMANDED to the trial court to fix amount.
