2002

27 Fla. L. Weekly D973b

Insurance — International health insurance policy — Arbitration — Action by medical care provider, as assignee of insured, against insurer for breach of contract — Trial court properly found that international health insurance policy containing arbitration clause which was issued to insured in Panama was subject to Federal Arbitration Act and the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards — Trial court did not err in compelling parties to submit breach of contract claim to arbitration — Where arbitration clause in policy contained venue selection clause requiring arbitration in Jackson, Mississippi of any disputes arising from the policy or its breach, court erred in compelling arbitration in South Florida — In the absence of showing that enforcing the forum selection clause would be unreasonable or that the clause is otherwise invalid, trial court erred in refusing to enforce arbitration in the contractual forum

27 Fla. L. Weekly D1843a

Arbitration — Insurance — Error to deny motion to compel arbitration — Argument regarding McCarran-Ferguson Regulation Act is without merit, as party failed to demonstrate that application of Federal Arbitration Act would invalidate, impair, or supercede particular state law regulating business of insurance

27 Fla. L. Weekly D1196a

Arbitration — Insurance — Confirmation of award — Where insurer never moved to vacate, modify, or clarify award pursuant to section 682.13, trial court properly affirmed award — Prejudgment interest — Insureds entitled to prejudgment interest from date of appraisal award unless policy provisions allow insurer to pay award within a certain period, and insurer made payment within the allotted time — Remand for further proceedings

27 Fla. L. Weekly D340a

Insurance — Insurer’s action against insureds for breach of contract and return of insurance proceeds based on insureds’ material misrepresentations on supplemental loss claim — Trial court properly entered summary judgment for insureds where record does not show any material misrepresentations by insureds — Error to award insureds prejudgment interest from date of loss — Prejudgment interest to be awarded from date of appraisal award

27 Fla. L. Weekly S1028a

Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal — Where homeowners policy contained unambiguous provision for appraisal, there was no entitlement to formal arbitration under Florida Arbitration Code — Once a trial court has determined that the appraisal provisions of a contract of insurance have been properly invoked, further proceedings should be conducted in accord with those provisions, rather than by the wholly different proceedings contemplated by an agreement to arbitrate

27 Fla. L. Weekly S1043a

Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal clause in policy at issue plainly provided for appraisal proceedings, and did not represent an agreement to submit to formal arbitration

27 Fla. L. Weekly S779a

Insurance — Homeowners — Appraisal — Causation is a coverage question for the court when an insurer wholly denies that there is a covered loss and an amount-of-loss question for the appraisal panel when an insurer admits that there is covered loss, the amount of which is disputed

27 Fla. L. Weekly D436a

Insurance — Automobile — Class action against automobile insurer alleging that insurer’s corporate policy requiring use of non-original equipment manufacturer replacement parts for repairs constitutes a breach of insurance policy — No error in denying insurer’s motion to compel appraisal on ground that complaint states more than a disagreement over amount of loss for plaintiffs’ vehicle — Order denying insurer’s motion to dismiss is not appealable

27 Fla. L. Weekly D1373b

Insurance — Appraisal — Where insured had provided insurer with sworn proof of loss and produced its corporate representative and sole shareholder for examination under oath; and counsel for insurer admitted that insurer had obtained through discovery the documents it had requested from insured, insurer had adequate information from which it could make determination as to insured’s loss — No error in ordering insurer to submit to appraisal

27 Fla. L. Weekly D2098a

Insurance — Medical malpractice — Misrepresentations on application — Defendant insurer’s motion for directed verdict in action on medical malpractice policy should have been granted where record demonstrates that insured falsely and materially represented in response to question on application that he had had no previous malpractice claims against him