Volume 5

5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 733a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — No error in excluding from evidence insured’s refusal to submit to independent medical examination where claim against insurer was for medical bills submitted prior to IME request, and policy did not make IME a condition precedent to coverage, but provided only that refusal of insured to submit to IME would eliminate insurer’s liability for subsequent PIP benefits — No error in denying insurer’s motion for directed verdict — Insured’s failure to attend IME scheduled well after he had submitted his application for PIP benefits and after his treatments had terminated was not, as matter of law, so unreasonable as to absolve insurer of all liability for PIP benefits — Attorney’s fees award supported by sufficient competent evidence

5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 619a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Workers’ compensation — Third party actions — Attorney’s fees — Insured who was injured in automobile accident during course and scope of her employment and who settled bodily injury claim against tortfeasor is entitled to reimbursement from PIP carrier for amounts expended to resolve workers’ compensation lien — Pro rata share of attorney’s fees and costs is calculated by reference to total amount of attorney’s fees and costs expended by insured, not by reference to total amount of benefits paid by workers’ compensation carrier

5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 846a

Attorney’s fees — Offer of judgment — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Insurer can make offer of judgment and recover attorney’s fees against an insured in a first-party PIP suit — Question certified

5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 557a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Collateral source rule — Attorney’s fees — Offers of judgment — Action concerning personal injury protection benefits, where PIP insurer claims that bills of doctors were paid by health insurance and that plaintiff is not entitled to double recovery — Statutory collateral source rule has never applied to PIP actions, and no statute allows PIP carrier to avoid obligation to provide primary coverage by relying upon payment from a collateral source — Defendant’s motion for partial summary judgment denied — Issues of fact remain as to necessity of medical bills at issue, and insurer’s failure to pay medical bills within thirty days of receipt does not automatically waive insurer’s right to raise defenses in action for PIP benefits — Plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment denied — Despite public policy of discouraging insurers from contesting valid claims, and to reimburse successful policy holders forced to sue to enforce policies, legislature did not carve out exception to offer of judgment statute to exclude cases between insured and insurer — Motion to strike defendant’s offer of judgment denied

5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 303a

Attorney’s fees — Offer of judgment — Insurance — Motion to strike insurer’s offer of judgment granted — Section 768.79 is in direct conflict with section 672.428, which offers attorney’s fees only to successful insured or beneficiary

5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 825b

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Liability — Insured entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees incurred in defense of litigation arising from its installation of pipeline and for amounts it paid in settlement of claims arising out of pipeline installation — Insured entitled to prejudgment interest from actual dates of payment rather than from date predecessor judge entered partial summary judgment with respect to insured’s entitlement to fees and costs — Insured entitled to recover policy limits for personal injury liability and property damage, with credit for amount already paid — Insured not entitled to completed operations coverage in view of predecessor judge’s ruling that insured failed to present evidence sufficient to prove an “occurrence” within completed operations policy period as that term is defined within policy

5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 523a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Failure to timely notify insurer of accident — Presumption of prejudice — No error in allowing jury to decide whether insurer was prejudiced by insured’s late notice of accident — New trial — Where reasonable minds could have differed as to whether insured’s delay in notifying insurer of accident visited prejudice upon insurer, new trial not warranted — Jury instructions — Contention that combination of standard and nonstandard jury instructions on damages was improper must fail — Where nonstandard jury instructions merely explained how PIP benefits were to be calculated, and complaint alleged that damages were at least $2500 but not more than $5000, award of $3000 does not demonstrate either prejudicial error, or that such instructions were confusing, inconsistent, or repetitive — Attorney’s fees — In PIP case that did not break new ground, $45,348.00 in attorney’s fees does not bear reasonable relationship to recovery of $3000 — New trial on award of attorney’s fees required

5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 142b

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Insured who prevailed in action against insurer not entitled to attorney’s fees where insured failed to properly plead entitlement to fees — Pleading which failed to state specific authority for fees not sufficient — Even if insured’s references to Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law satisfied requirement that party from whom fees are sought have some form of notice, record does not reveal any evidence that insurer undertook any affirmative conduct or committed any specific act which could have led insured to believe that there was no disputed issue as to her entitlement to attorney’s fees — Insurer’s failure to file motion for more definite statement in response to general prayer for fees or its failure to file motion to strike fee claim did not amount to acquiescence or recognition of claim

5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 735b

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Health maintenance organizations — Insured not entitled to recover attorney’s fees under statute entitling prevailing party to fees and costs in action to enforce terms and conditions of health maintenance contract where pathologist whose bill was not immediately paid did not submit a proper claim until after suit was filed, and HMO promptly paid claim when it learned that preparer of original claim form had misdesignated pathologist’s bill as “private pay” rather than “HMO”

5 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 576a

NOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 399a

Insurance — Prejudgment interest — Error to award prejudgment interest on attorney’s fee awards against Florida Insurance Guaranty Association