6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 314a
NOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 479d
Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Statute requires that medical provider who renders treatment covered by PIP insurance may be paid directly if insured has countersigned invoice, bill, or claim form — Phrase “signature on file,” typed on form in place designated for insured’s signature does not suffice — Where provider never presented a signed form or assignment before filing suit, although it had a properly executed assignment of benefits which it did not share with insurer until three months into litigation, trial court erred in awarding attorney’s fees to provider
Lower court order at 5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 696a
SECURITY NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. BIOTRONIX LABORATORIES, INC., Appellee. 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Dade County, Appellate Division. Case No. 98-259 AP. Opinion filed March 12, 1999. An Appeal from County Court for Dade County, Florida, Ann Mason Parker, Judge. Counsel: Carole Wolf Miller, Attorney for Appellant. Charles J. Kane, Attorney for Appellee.
(Before Juan Ramirez, Jr., Henry H. Harnage, and Lawrence A. Schwartz, JJ.)
(RAMIREZ, J.) This is an appeal from an order granting the plaintiff attorney’s fees on a suit by Biotronix Laboratories, Inc., to recover personal injury protection benefits for medical services rendered to an individual insured by Security National Insurance Company. We reverse.
This case followed a familiar path where a small PIP bill becomes the subject of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees at stake. Biotronix submitted a bill to the insurer in the total amount of $750.00 for services rendered to the insured, Piero Quiroz, on a HCFA 1500 form. In place of a signature, the form was typed “signature on file.” Biotronix never presented a signed form or assignment before filing suit. Under section 627.736(5), Florida Statutes (1998), any medical provider who renders treatment covered by personal injury protection insurance may be paid directly “if the insured receiving such treatment … has countersigned the invoice, bill, or claim form.” When used as a verb, “countersign” means “to sign in addition to the signature of another in order to attest the authenticity.” Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th edition (1979).
Clearly a form with “signature on file” does not attest anything. It is difficult to fathom why it has taken countless motions, hearings and other procedural maneuverings to arrive at this inescapable fact.1 What is even more appalling, Biotronix had a properly executed assignment of benefits which was signed by Mr. Quiroz on January 5, 1996 — nine months before suit was filed. It simply did not share it with the insurer until three months into the litigation. These tactics can only be viewed as a blatant attempt to set up the insurance company for attorney’s fees.
REVERSED and REMANDED. (HARNAGE and SCHWARTZ, JJ., concur).
________
1For example, the appellant’s brief was 36 pages long!
* * *
