Volume 27

27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 373a

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2704BEITInsurance — Property — Attorney’s fees — Where insureds filed voluntary dismissal of suit less than 24 hours before hearing on insurer’s motion for summary judgment, to which insureds had offered no opposing evidence, dismissal was at stage of litigation equivalent to summary judgment, and insureds had no absolute right to voluntary dismissal — Allowing insureds to avoid liability for attorney’s fees and costs by strategic move of voluntarily dismissing suit on eve of summary judgment and re-filing action before another judge would be grossly inequitable — Insurer’s motion for final summary judgment is granted, and voluntary dismissal is stricken

27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 255a

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2703PADRInsurance — Property — Coverage — Conditions precedent — Compliance with post-loss obligations — Insureds who provided sworn proof of loss that stated the amount of damage to building and total loss were “to be determined” and who provided no records regarding repair expenses failed to satisfy conditions precedent requiring sworn proof of loss and estimate of claim prior to litigation — Defendant’s motion for final summary judgment granted

27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 417a

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2704OCTEInsurance — Property — Coverage — Insured’s action against insurer, which was dismissed for failure to comply with court orders, is not dispositive of action against insurer by assignee of insured — Plaintiff has separate right to prove that damage to property and services it provided are covered under policy — Where insurer met its prima facie burden of proof as to affirmative defense that damage was not a covered loss under policy, and plaintiff generally disputed insurer’s coverage determination but presented no affidavit or evidence supporting that position, summary judgment is entered in favor of insurer

27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 800a

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2707PARKInsurance — Personal injury protection — Venue — Forum selection clause — Petition for writ of certiorari challenging order denying transfer of venue is granted — Trial court departed from essential requirements of law in concluding that insurer failed to submit competent substantial evidence of insured’s address sufficient to enforce mandatory forum selection clause establishing venue in county where insured lived at time of accident — Policy, which was admitted at hearing as a business record, represented competent substantial evidence of insured’s county of residence — Order resulted in irreparable injury to insurer for which remedy on plenary appeal is insufficient

27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 802a

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2709PARKInsurance — Venue — Appeals — Mootness — Vacation of appellate opinion — Joint motion to vacate appellate opinion alleging that, as a result of the parties’ settlement agreement, the appeal is moot and subject to dismissal — Court denies motion where issues raised are likely to recur and appellate opinion rendered has precedential value — Court also denies insured’s individual motion to vacate or alternative motion for rehearing which alleged that insured’s address contained in insurance policy is insufficient to establish insured’s address at time of accident without further evidence that the address had not been updated before the accident — Argument was already made and considered by the court

27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 889b

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2710RODRInsurance — Personal injury protection — Continuance — Pending discovery — Denial — Motion to continue summary judgment hearing to allow insurer to depose claimant is denied — Insurer has had ample opportunity to depose claimant in seven years that case has been in litigation

27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 727a

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2708JPERInsurance — Personal injury protection — Small claims — Motion to invoke rules of civil procedure is granted — Failure to invoke rule 1.442 would render meaningless provision of PIP statute making offer of judgment statute applicable

27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 838a

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2709PIERInsurance — Personal injury protection — Voluntary dismissal without prejudice filed after trial court granted summary dismissal in favor of medical provider is nullity — Fact that two years have passed between filing of motion for voluntary dismissal and hearing on motion to strike voluntary dismissal is inconsequential where voluntary dismissal is void — Motion to strike is granted — Where trial court granted final judgment in favor of medical provider, finding that insurer had not properly elected use of statutory fee schedules, insurer filed motion for rehearing and action was stayed pending resolution of issue by Florida Supreme Court which has now issued decision in Orthopedic Specialists determining that insurer’s policy language was sufficient to elect use of fee schedules, renewed motion for rehearing is granted and judgment is entered in favor of insurer

27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 193a

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2702GREEInsurance — Personal injury protection — Motion to amend answer and affirmative defenses to include counterclaim for declaratory relief and third-party claim against named insured, seeking declaration that PIP policy was void ab initio due to misrepresentation on application, is denied, as insurer can secure complete relief in breach of contract action — Proposed counterclaim is untimely under rule 7.100 — Proposed third-party complaint against named insured does not comply with rule 7.100(e) where it fails to state how named insured would be liable to insurer for any part of claim of plaintiff/medical provider, an assignee of an omnibus insured

27 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 291a

Online Reference: FLWSUPP 2703MONKInsurance — Personal injury protection — Coverage — Conditions precedent — Examination under oath — Failure to attend — EUO notice sent to insured’s attorney constitutes effective notice to insured — Neither PIP statute nor policy requires insurer to give insured multiple opportunities to attend EUO — No merit to argument that EUO scheduled more than thirty days after notice of loss was per se unreasonable where thirty-day period for investigation and payment of claim does not begin until insurer has received both notice of fact of loss and notice of amount of loss, and insurer did not receive medical provider’s first bill providing notice of amount of loss until two months after insured had already failed to attend EUO