6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 399f
Insurance — Personal injury protection — Civil procedure — Error to treat insured’s Motion in Limine Regarding Points of Law as motion for summary judgment
UNITED AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, vs. MERCEDES LOPEZ-CARDOSO, Appellee. 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Appellate Division. Case No. 98-326 AP. Lower Court Case No. 98-04956 CC 05. Opinion filed March 26, 1999. An Appeal from the County Court of Miami-Dade County, Florida, A. Leo Adderly, Judge. Counsel: Steven E. Stark, for appellant. Kenneth B. Schurr, for appellee.
(Before STUART M. SIMONS, PHILIP BLOOM and ROSA RODRIGUEZ, JJ.)
(PER CURIAM.) Appellant, United Automobile Insurance Company, appeals the trial court’s July 20, 1998 Order granting Appellee, Mercedes Lopez-Cardoso’s Motion in Limine Regarding Points of Law. Said non-final Order decided liability in favor of Lopez-Cardoso, in her suit to recover personal injury protection benefits from United Automobile. We find the trial court erred in treating this Motion in Limine as a Motion for Summary Judgment.
“[T]rial courts should not allow motions in limine to be used as unwritten and unnoticed motions for partial summary judgment or motions to dismiss.” Buy-Low Save Centers, Inc., 547 So. 2d at 1284, Brock v. G.D. Searle & Co., 530 So. 2d 428, 431 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988); Rice, 483 So. 2d at 560; Dailey v. Multicon Development, Inc., 417 So.2d 1106 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). This is especially true where, as here, the motion was hand-delivered the same day as the scheduled pretrial conference. Because the facts concerning United Automobile’s waiver of notice defense were in dispute, the trial court erred in treating the unnoticed Motion in Limine Regarding Points of Law as a motion for summary judgment. Accordingly, the Order of the trial court is REVERSED and REMANDED.
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