28 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 376a

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2805SANTInsurance — Personal injury protection — Summary judgment — Error to reject affidavit of expert on reasonableness of charges

UNITED AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. MIAMI DADE COUNTY MRI CORP., a/a/o Rodas Santo, Appellee. Circuit Court, 11th Judicial Circuit (Appellate) in and for Miami-Dade County. Case No. 2018-103-AP-01. L.T. Case No. 12-14243 SP 23 (02). June 23, 2020. On Appeal from the County Court in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, Hon. Caryn Schwartz, Judge. Counsel: Michael Neimand, House Counsel for United Automobile Insurance Company, for Appellant. Chad A. Barr, Law Offices of Chad A. Barr, P.A., for Appellee.

(Before TRAWICK, WALSH and DE LA O¹, JJ.)

OPINION

(PER CURIAM.) (UAIC) appeals the trial court’s order granting final summary judgment on behalf of the Provider. This case is indistinguishable from our decision in 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].

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 of its adjuster on whether the medical bills at issue were reasonable in price. Taking UAIC’s excluded affidavit into account, it was error to grant summary judgment. See 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.

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¹Judge de la O did not participate in oral argument.