Volume 11

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1087a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Standing — Assignment — Where assignment was executed after suit was filed, medical provider lacked standing when suit was filed — Standing via amended complaint does not relate back to filing of suit — Demand letter — Amended complaint identifying second accident and claim number is separate cause of action which requires demand letter and, in absence of demand letter, provider has not obtained standing or met conditions precedent to suit — Amended complaint dismissed with prejudice

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 937b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Standing — Assignment — Medical provider’s motion to amend complaint to substitute name of correct provider to which benefits were assigned is denied as motion seeks not to merely correct scrivener’s error but to substitute entirely different legal person or entity and will prejudice insurer

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 262b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Assignment of benefits attached to second amended complaint is valid and, accordingly, insured did not have standing to bring suit against insurer for PIP benefits — Although caption was changed to add “for the use and benefits of” provider, insured remains the only plaintiff to lawsuit — Defendant’s motion for summary judgment granted

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 238a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Standing — Assignment — Where insured assigned all causes of action under policy to medical provider, assignment is irrevocable as to services at issue in case, and insured has presented nothing to indicate assignment was revoked, insured has no cause of action against insurer

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 583a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Declaratory judgment — Summary judgment is granted in favor of provider/assignee whose bill was denied due to exhaustion of policy benefits in declaratory judgment action seeking declaration that provider is entitled to receive PIP payout log, declarations page, and copy of policy — Standing — Assignment — Equitable assignment — Where medical provider provided emergency treatment and transport to insured, and insured deteriorated significantly en route to hospital and died eight days later without executing assignment of benefits in favor of provider, equitable assignment was created

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 568a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Standing — Assignment — Validity — Where medical provider provided emergency care for insured following automobile accident, insured was unable to sign assignment because he was immobilized, and insured testified to intent and reasonable expectation that insurer would pay bill, insurer’s argument that provider is unable to recover for services because assignment was not signed is illogical — Assignment may be implied from circumstances — Summary judgment granted in favor of provider

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 934a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Confession of judgment — Where medical provider filed suit for PIP benefits and declaratory relief and, after production of PIP payout log in response to discovery, discovered it had mistakenly filed suit for benefits that had already been timely paid and voluntarily dismissed count alleging nonpayment of benefits, production of PIP payout log was not confession of judgment entitling provider to award of attorney’s fees and costs — Declaratory judgments — Standing — Assignment — Provider/assignee that has been paid in full no longer retains rights under assignment and lacks standing to seek declaratory relief

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1006a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Provider failed to comply with conditions precedent to suit where assignment of benefits was not attached to demand letter, and demand letter was sent to the wrong person — Requirement that demand letter be filed prior to suit cannot be circumvented by filing proper demand letter after suit was filed

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 570b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Standing — Assignment — Validity — Motion to dismiss provider’s action against insurer for lack of standing and lack of subject matter jurisdiction on ground that alleged assignments were not assignments as matter of law, but merely directions to pay, denied based on conclusion that language of document containing alleged assignment was ambiguous as to whether insured intended to transfer all rights to make a claim on the policy, or whether insured had reserved some right to make a claim — Motion to dismiss cannot be granted on ground that plaintiff did not incorporate in or attach to the complaint the alleged assignments because defendant did not move to dismiss complaint on this ground — Although motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction may properly go beyond four corners of complaint when it raises solely a question of law, defendant’s motion was unsupported by any affidavit or verification of the documents attached to the motion, and in any event, allegations that insured executed an assignment on behalf of plaintiff was legally sufficient to withstand motion to dismiss — If motion to dismiss were treated as motion for summary judgment, court would also deny that motion given that document containing alleged assignment presents genuine issue of material fact for trier of fact

11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1009a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Standing — Assignment — Where insurer created document, referred to it as assignment, and treated it as assignment by making payments to medical providers in accordance with insurer’s standard business practice of paying benefits directly to providers only if they have assignment or direction to pay, it would be inequitable to permit insurer to deny document is assignment as it seeks dismissal of provider’s action for PIP benefits based on lack of standing — Whether by construing ambiguity against insurer or by estoppel, document is assignment — Motion for summary judgment on standing issue denied