Volume 4

4 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 862a

Insurance — Disability — Insured’s action against insurer for accrued benefits — Insurer’s motion for stay of state court action pending resolution of previously filed declaratory judgment action which had been removed to federal court is denied — In interest of justice, case should not be stayed where there is no prospect of early resolution of federal court case and insured will suffer substantial prejudice if he is indeed disabled and entitled to disability benefits under the policy — Denial of motion is without prejudice to renewal of motion should issue of repudiation of policies be revisited in federal case or if it is established, through discovery in instant case, that repudiation in fact occurred

4 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 627b

Torts — Insurance — Automobile insurer’s subrogation action against tortfeasor seeking to recover expenses of rental vehicle when insured’s pleasure vehicle had been totally destroyed — Loss of use is recoverable as an element of damages when a pleasure vehicle has been totally destroyed by a tortfeasor

4 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 844a

Insurance — Automobile — Property damage — Insurer who has accepted insured’s rights to proceed against tortfeasor through subrogation has no duty to assert insured’s claim for deductible or to account or pay its insured from any recovery obtained from tortfeasor or tortfeasor’s insurer — By electing to proceed against collision insurer instead of against tortfeasor, and by assigning rights to proceed against tortfeasor to insurer, insured elected to assume burden of recovering the deductible

4 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 260a

Insurance — Automobile — Cancellation of policy after insured failed to respond to notice of additional premium — Insurer violated statute when it cancelled plaintiff’s policies several weeks after cancellation date specified in notice and charged an additional premium for the improper coverage period — Both statute and provisions of insurance policy required that, in assessing an additional premium, insurer notify insured of date on which policy will be cancelled if insured takes no action

4 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 257a

Insurance — Automobile — Cancellation of policy — Once insurer discovers that it charged an incorrect premium, insurer must send insured notice of the additional amount due — Notice must outline three options specified in statute and must include date policy will be cancelled in the event insured fails to timely respond to notice — Insurer violated statute when it cancelled plaintiff’s policies several weeks after cancellation date specified in notice and charged an additional premium for the improper coverage period

4 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 524a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Error to deny attorney’s fees and costs incurred by insured in connection with injured party’s PIP claim where insurer initially denied coverage and filed third-party complaint against its insured seeking declaration that there was no coverage due to alleged misrepresentations on application, but subsequently voluntarily dismissed its suit against insured and settled with claimant for full amount claimed under policy

4 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 753a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Written notice of claim — Attorney’s fees — Personal injury protection benefits are deemed overdue if they are not paid within thirty days after the insurer is furnished “written notice of the fact of a covered loss and the amount of same” — Where Health Insurance Claim Form submitted by one of insured’s health care providers indicated insured’s condition was related to an auto accident, indicated a date which was either the date of injury or date insured first noticed symptoms of injury, contained personal information about insured, contained amount of loss, and listed the claim number that insurer assigned to the claim, the form contains sufficient information to constitute “written notice” of claim for covered loss and the amount of loss — Where insurer has received written notice of the claim, burden is on insurer to investigate and then to pay the claim within thirty days from the date of receipt of written notice if it cannot prove it was not responsible for payment — Where insurer failed to pay the claim within the requisite thirty days, insured’s health care provider was entitled to an award of costs and attorney’s fees

4 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 172a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Arbitration — Policy provision’s definition of “prevailing party” for purposes of entitlement to attorney’s fees arising from arbitration proceeding is void as against public policy and unenforceable as matter of law

4 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 168a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Arbitration — Health care provider who prevailed in arbitration is entitled to attorney’s fees notwithstanding that amount awarded was less than the amount claimed — Policy provision that there is no “prevailing party” in arbitration if amount awarded by arbitrators is less than full amount of claim asserted cannot override clear mandate of statute entitling prevailing party to attorney’s fees and costs

4 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 180a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Attorney’s fees awarded to plaintiff in action to collect personal injury protection benefits after considering relevant factors, including novelty and complexity of case, counsel’s skill, customary fee, results obtained, and time limitations imposed by the circumstances — Use of contingency risk multiplier is appropriate under circumstances — No fees awarded for time spent preparing for litigation of entitlement issue