Volume 7

7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 615a

Insurance — Automobile — Limitation of actions — Seatbelt endorsement in automobile insurance policy constitutes medical payments benefits and, consequently, five-year personal injury protection statute of limitations applies

7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 11a

Insurance — Automobile — Cancellation of policy — Agency — Apparent authority — Where agent, in compliance with insurer’s application process, completed an inspection report and took photographs of vehicle, coverage was bound by insurer, but policy was subsequently canceled because photographs of vehicle that were submitted with application were not clear; and insured, upon receipt of cancellation notice, took vehicle to agency where a second set of photographs were taken and where agent allegedly told insured to ignore the cancellation notice and that coverage would remain in effect, whether agent’s conduct imposed liability for subsequent accident upon insurer depends upon whether insurance agency was an agent of insurer and whether employees of the agency acted with apparent authority to bind insurer — Genuine issues of material fact remain where agent testified that the agency which employed her had authority to bind insurer once an application was completed, but insurer’s corporate officer stated that agency was required to obtain authorization either by fax or telephone before insurer could be bound, broker agreement stated that broker must obtain written authorization from underwriter in order to accept or bind coverage for insurer, and application contained provision in bold print directly above insured’s signature stating that agent had no authority to bind company without first obtaining confirmation

7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 703a

Insurance — Cancellation of policy — Evidence — Hearsay — Business records — Error to permit insurer to introduce into evidence a notice of cancellation with insured’s name and address on it and a computer-generated log purporting to show that notice had been sent where insurer’s witness did not prepare the documents, was not records custodian, and did not know usual procedure for preparing documents — No merit to insured’s claim that there is higher standard of proof that insurer has to meet to establish that cancellation notice has been sent — Statute providing that postal proof of mailing or certified or registered mailing of notice of cancellation shall be sufficient proof of notice does not mandate certified or registered mail as exclusive way of mailing notice of cancellation

7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 728a

Insurance — Automobile — Private passenger automobile insurer who wishes to charge an additional premium according to section 627.7282 must set policy’s cancellation within 45 days of issuance of the notice of additional premium due — Upon cancellation of private passenger automobile policy, insurer must make gross instead of net refund of unearned premiums, which means that refund must include agent’s unearned commission — Cancellation of policy results in creation of debt of unearned premium, and interest is owed by company on that debt if not immediately paid

7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 389b

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Time spent arguing for application of multiplier relates to amount of attorney’s fees, not to entitlement — Fees awarded on multiplier issue reversed

7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 242a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Medical bills — Denial of coverage on ground that insured failed to attend independent medical examination, which insured contended had been canceled — Attorney’s fees — Insured entitled to PIP benefits for medical bills he submitted to insurer before the first scheduled independent medical examination — Any error arising from trial court’s failure to grant insurer’s request for jury trial was harmless — Because determination of whether a condition precedent has been met is a legal issue, and trial court found that under totality of circumstances the overwhelming evidence indicated that insured’s failure to appear at IMEs was reasonable, judgment was correctly entered in favor of insured — Insured, as prevailing party, entitled to attorney’s fees and costs

7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 806a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Insurer is entitled to recover attorney’s fees and costs from medical provider who filed action for failure to pay PIP benefits and/or failure to make payments within thirty days where medical provider failed to undertake reasonable pre-suit investigation which would have revealed that all benefits due were paid and policy limits exhausted some nine months prior to filing of action — While parties are not required to have absolute verification of merits of their claims or to eliminate every possible defense before filing suit, they cannot ignore information for which notice is readily available to them upon reasonable investigation

7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 240a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Insurer has thirty days after being furnished written notice of fact of a covered loss and amount of the loss to make payment — Suit filed by third party against PIP insurer was premature where filed prior to expiration of thirty-day period and did not state cause of action because payment of benefits was not yet overdue — Error to award attorney’s fees and expert’s fees to plaintiff — Record does not support conclusion that filing of suit was catalyst for payments

7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 299b

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Delay in payment of benefits — Insurer did not wrongfully withhold benefits where it was provided incorrect and incomplete information which made it appear that there was no coverage for the claims presented — Record shows that insurer made numerous attempts to verify coverage for claimants involved in the accident at issue — No statutory basis for attorney’s fees where insurer did not wrongfully withhold benefits

7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 352a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Offer of settlement — Motion to strike insurer’s proposal for settlement denied — Court cannot find any legally compelling reason why offer of settlement is not valid in PIP cases