Volume 11

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 237c

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Documents — Trade secrets — Contracts between insurer and interested third party are not protected trade secrets, and insurer is ordered to produce copies of all such contracts or agreements, and correspondence related thereto, and any documentation of amounts paid to third party in last three years — Insurer shall also produce any documents which indicate that amount billed by provider exceeded usual, customary, and reasonable amount for such service in region — Interrogatories — Insurer shall respond to interrogatories regarding whether it has paid other medical providers in region higher amount for same treatment for which insurer paid plaintiff provider reduced amount, schedule utilized in making decision to pay reduced amount, names of medical providers billing at rates insurer has elected to pay and those paid higher amount, exact methodology used to determine that amount allowed is based on provider charges within region, and formula or criteria used to determine amount allowed

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 739b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Motion to deem requests for admissions admitted is denied, and medical provider is given 24 hours to answer — Provider need only provide redacted sign-in sheets for dates of service at issue in lawsuit — Insurer withdraws from motion to compel production of other documents due to fact that fees for MRI services are set by statute

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 339a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Interrogatories — Motion to compel medical provider to provide better answers is granted as to facts relied on to support contention that each test was medically reasonable, necessary, and related; information regarding person performing each test; facts relied on to support contention that billed price was reasonable, and persons involved in determination of billing price — Production of documents — Medical provider must produce redacted sign-in sheets, promotional materials, documentation used to determine or support fees billed, list of prices and copies of fee schedules for CPT codes in controversy, and documentation regarding what is charged and accepted under other insurance programs and for non-insured individuals for CPT codes in controversy

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 359c

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Documents — Privilege — Insurer is ordered to produce vehicle registrations report and driver’s licenses report, which are not privileged — Privilege log as to Nexis search report not pled with sufficient specificity — Insurer is ordered to amend answer and affirmative defenses to reflect admission that it had proper notice, and need not produce related documents

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 250a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Interrogatories — Objections to interrogatories seeking information on amounts paid to peer review physician; cases in which physician has testified; number of peer reviews conducted by physician in past for insurer or anyone on behalf of defense; work performed generally by physician for insurer, plaintiffs or defendants; portion of physician’s professional time devoted to service as peer reviewer or expert; and PIP cases involving insurer in which corporate representatives of medical exam company that hired physician have testified are overruled

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 930a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Failure to comply — Sanctions — If insurer fails to completely respond to discovery requests regarding computer system and database used to reduce bills, it will be prohibited from relying on, utilizing or mentioning vendor used for bill reviews

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1113a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Willful and deliberate failure to obey court’s discovery order — Sanctions

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 634a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Failure to comply — Motion to strike expert witness is granted where defendant disclosed report of vocational rehabilitation expert’s examination of plaintiff only after calendar call and discovery completion date and only two weeks before trial, plaintiff was precluded thereby from conducting necessary discovery to adequately prosecute case, and further continuances would disrupt orderly and efficient trial

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 447a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Failure to comply — Sanctions — Motion to dismiss for failure to comply with discovery order is granted where medical provider who failed to provide requested better answers to interrogatories agreed to entry of order requiring service of better answers, provider failed to serve amended answers by date set in order and two months later served unverified answers virtually identical to prior answers, and provider served answers that were verified but substantially same as prior answers on day before hearing on motion to dismiss

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 408b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Evidence — No merit to claim that trial court erred in admitting articles from periodical on CPT coding despite fact that they were unauthenticated since articles are self-authenticating — No abuse of discretion in admitting articles that insurer failed to disclose at pretrial conference where there is no showing of prejudice inasmuch as medical provider proffered no argument that it might have countered evidence had it been disclosed, and no showing that alleged error was harmful since admission of articles served only to clarify information already in CPT manual for jury — No error in refusing to admit evidence of payment on subject CPT code in other cases since conduct by non-party insurer is not relevant or admissible