Volume 15

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 171b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Evidence — Judicial notice — Medicare Part B fee schedule

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 911a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Evidence — Court takes judicial notice of Medicare Part B fee schedule, but reserves ruling on relevancy and admissibility

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 999c

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Evidence — Fee schedules — Motion to take judicial notice of Medicare Part B fee schedule and workers’ compensation fee schedule is granted

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 949c

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Coverage — Medical expenses — Reasonable charges — Evidence — Medical fee schedules — Court takes judicial notice of Medicare Part B and workers’ compensation fee schedules — Fee schedules are self-authenticating, relevant and admissible

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1055a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Privilege — Work product — Trial court departed from essential requirements of law, resulting in irreparable harm to provider, when it concluded that insurer was not required to produce adjuster’s AS400 computerized notes generated before insurer received provider’s presuit demand letter because provider did not establish a valid need for the notes to establish that treatment of insured was reasonable, related, and necessary — Trial court applied wrong evidentiary burden when analyzing insurer’s invocation of work-product privilege — Had insurer stated that it prepared AS400 notes in anticipation of litigation, burden would have shifted to provider to demonstrate that i]t had need of the materials in preparation of case and was unable without undue hardship to obtain substantial equivalent by other means — Discussion of procedural requirements and evidentiary burdens when one party invokes work-product privilege, including fact that Florida requires privilege logs when litigant claims work-product privilege and that failure to comply with this requirement results in waiver of privilege — Remand for evidentiary hearing consistent with requirements of rule 1.280(b)(3)

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1057a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Appeals — No merit to claim that petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of order denying motion to strike certain discovery documents is untimely because order challenged is tantamount to rehearing of an earlier non-final order — However, petitioner/insurer has not demonstrated that it will be irreparably harmed by disclosure of information, particularly since insurer admits that information would be discoverable in a deposition — Certiorari denied

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 218a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Procedure reports — Order compelling production of information regarding charges for certain CPT codes received by insurer during specified dates of service from medical providers in certain zip codes or, in the alternative, “procedure reports” reflecting this information was not departure from essential requirements of law resulting in material injury for which there was no adequate remedy on appeal

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 742a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Insurer’s objections to interrogatories asking whether insurer contends that insured submitted medical bills that are unreasonable or unnecessary, for descriptions of documentary evidence supporting any such contentions, for names and addresses of medical practitioners that reviewed bills and persons with knowledge of issues raised in pleadings, for statement of method used to calculate partial payments, and for facts supporting answers of “denied” and “insufficient knowledge” in response to request for admissions on ground that interrogatories are overbroad, harassing and irrelevant are denied — Motion to compel better responses granted and sanctions imposed

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 176a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Declaratory judgment — Despite case resolving medical provider’s entitlement to PIP log under different provision of PIP statute, question of whether provider is entitled to log under section 627.736(4)(b) remains open and is proper subject for declaratory relief — Provider may maintain declaratory action for copy of policy and declarations page — Provider is not required to plead damages as element of declaratory relief

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 164b Insurance — Personal injury protection — Declaratory judgment — Complaint alleging claim for failure to provide PIP log to