2000

25 Fla. L. Weekly D1276c

Insurance — Automobile — Exclusions — Relative residing in same household as insured — Trial court could properly construe ambiguous term “resident” in favor of coverage and hold that injured person was not resident of insured’s household where injured person, who was insured’s daughter, was a married woman with adult children and several grandchildren who lived with her husband in foreign state until she began having marital difficulties and who came to insured’s home in Florida to see what possibilities were open to her in Florida if she decided to continue her separation from her husband

25 Fla. L. Weekly D1358a

Insurance — Declaratory judgment — Dismissal of insurer’s declaratory judgment action seeking declaration that there is no coverage under automobile policy due to material misrepresentation made by insured during application process

25 Fla. L. Weekly D1893a

Insurance — Automobile — Coverage — Error to find that coverage existed under automobile policy where insurer had sent insured offer to renew coverage which stated that policy would terminate if premium payment for renewal policy was not received on or before end of current policy period, and insured did not tender premium payment for renewal policy until after expiration of current policy period — Policy provision regarding cancellation of policy created clear distinction between cancellation of existing policy and termination of policy at end of its term when insured failed to properly renew it, and court erred in finding that provision was ambiguous and that insurer was required to send notice of cancellation to insured — Notice of cancellation does not have to be sent when policy terminates because insured fails to accept offer to renew by timely paying designated premium prior to expiration term of original policy

25 Fla. L. Weekly D854aNOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 25 Fla. L. Weekly D962d

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Damages — Jurors — No abuse of discretion in denial of defendant insurer’s challenge for cause of juror who expressed certain sympathy with plaintiff’s injury, but, when informed that issue on trial would only be damages, not liability, stated that she could follow the law — Where defendant still had all its peremptory challenges available when challenge for cause was denied, but used peremptory challenges to challenge other jurors, failure to use peremptory challenge against juror who had been challenged for cause demonstrated that defendant made tactical decision regarding use of challenges — No error in denial of insurer’s motion for directed verdict on lost future earning capacity where there was ample evidence in record to allow jury to reasonably calculate lost earning capacity — Error to award plaintiff attorney’s fees on basis of proposal for settlement where evidence did not conclusively demonstrate that defendant received the proposal for settlement

25 Fla. L. Weekly D2584b

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Proposal for settlement

25 Fla. L. Weekly D555d

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Where PIP insurer informed insured that it would not pay for further medical treatment, insured sued insurer for breach of contract, insured submitted additional medical bills to insurer after filing of suit, and insurer paid additional bills within 30 days, county court erred in entering summary judgment for insurer in breach of contract suit — Insurer’s notice that it would pay no further benefits, to the extent insured’s treatment was necessary, reasonable and related to automobile accident, constituted anticipatory breach of insurer’s agreement to provide those benefits — Circuit court properly determined that insured was entitled to award of attorney’s fees

25 Fla. L. Weekly D2781aNOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 26 Fla. L. Weekly D335a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Error to cut off insured’s entitlement to attorney’s fees as of date insurer tendered check payable to insured and two entities with competing claims where insurer should have determined that competing claims were illusory — Private hospital was ineligible as matter of law to have valid lien — Hospital registration form which insurer believed contained assignment of benefits listed a different insurer as carrier — No error in denying collision benefits based on finding that there was no evidence that insured did not receive full value of his automobile from settlement with the other driver involved in accident

25 Fla. L. Weekly S72a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Arbitration — Attorney’s fees — Statute, which permits insureds who claim PIP benefits to sue insurer but requires medical care providers to whom claims have been assigned to submit claims to arbitration, constitutes unconstitutional violation of right of medical providers to access to courts — Statutory provision providing for award of attorney’s fees to prevailing party in case of claims by medical providers while insureds suing to enforce same contract enjoy one-way imposition of attorney’s fees violates medical providers’ due process rights

25 Fla. L. Weekly S1103a
774 So. 2d 679

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Appeals — Certiorari — Where insurer unilaterally assumed that bill submitted for treatment was for treatment to one area of body when treatment was actually for two injuries, and insurer only paid entire claim after legal action was filed, insured was entitled to award of attorney’s fees — Insurer’s payment after suit was filed operated as confession of judgment, entitling insured to attorney’s fees — District court of appeal improperly exercised its certiorari jurisdiction to review decision of circuit court acting in its appellate capacity where district court merely disagreed with circuit court’s interpretation of applicable law

25 Fla. L. Weekly D222aNOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 25 Fla. L. Weekly D384d

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Attorney’s fees — Offer of judgment — Where action was brought against uninsured motorist insurer by insured for damages resulting from accident and by insured’s wife for damages resulting from loss of consortium, insurer’s offer of judgment which proposed settlement of both claims for a single amount was defective because it failed to comply with mandate of rule to specify amounts offered to each party — Trial court properly denied award of attorney’s fees to insurer pursuant to offer of judgment statute