2009

34 Fla. L. Weekly D1548a
17 So. 3d 754

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Coverage — Magnetic resonance imaging — Computation of amount payable for MRI by applying annual consumer price index inflation adjustments — Under version of section 627.736(5)(b)(5), Florida Statutes, effective July 5, 2005, the first CPI adjustment should be made as of August 1, 2002, for the year 2001 — The adjustment should then be made annually on August 1 each year through the year in which the MRI is performed, and the CPI factor should be based on the statutorily-referenced chart for the 12-month period ending June 30 of each year

34 Fla. L. Weekly D15d
997 So. 2d 1208

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Class actions — Pre-certification discovery — Circuit court departed from essential requirements of law in affirming discovery order requiring production of documents including guidelines and procedure and practice manuals provided to insurer’s claims adjusters because order allowed discovery that goes to merits of cause of action before necessary prerequisites of standing and class certification were established

34 Fla. L. Weekly D2364b
25 So. 3d 584

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Circuit court acting in its appellate capacity departed from essential requirements of law when it reversed trial judge’s order awarding a contingency fee multiplier because petitioner did not testify that she had difficulty securing counsel to represent her in the cause without a multiplier — Expert testimony that petitioner would have difficulty securing counsel without the opportunity for a multiplier supported imposition of multiplier — Circuit court failed to apply principle of law previously enunciated by district court, rather than that of a sister district court of appeal

34 Fla. L. Weekly D542a
7 So. 3d 583

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Prevailing party — Appellate panel of circuit court departed from essential requirements of law in awarding attorney’s fees to insured where appellate panel reversed trial court’s summary judgment for insured, so that insured was not prevailing party on appeal

34 Fla. L. Weekly D274a
2 So. 3d 1050

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Fees awarded to insured’s attorney for representation in PIP claim which was added shortly before initial action against tortfeasor and against insurer for uninsured motorist benefits was settled — Fee award was excessive — Late filed amendment to add PIP claim and request for attorney’s fees did not relate back to beginning of action — Date of amendment to add PIP claim was first date from which attorney’s fees relating to that claim could have been awarded — Counsel’s testimony regarding number of hours he expended on action from date complaint was filed will not support fee award for litigating PIP claim — Testimony of counsel and his expert about time expended on PIP claim amounts to little more than speculation

34 Fla. L. Weekly D672b
10 So. 3d 1106

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Assignment of benefits — Insured’s assignment of benefits to medical provider and medical provider’s further assignment of benefits to billing service — In action by second assignee against insurer for failure to pay benefits due, county court erred in entering summary judgment for insurer on ground that initial assignment to medical provider was ambiguous for failure to specifically name the medical provider — County court’s conclusion that initial assignment was ambiguous acknowledged the existence of a fact issue which precluded summary judgment — Circuit court in its appellate capacity departed from essential requirements of law in affirming county court’s summary judgment — After-loss claim for PIP benefits may be assigned to third party who is not a medical provider

34 Fla. L. Weekly D1166a
14 So. 3d 1100

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Appeals — Circuit court acting in its appellate capacity improperly granted medical provider’s motion to dismiss insurer’s appeal from county court judgment entered in favor of medical provider on ground that circuit court lacked jurisdiction because insurer had failed to timely appeal county court’s earlier order striking insurer’s pleadings and entering default judgment as sanction for insurance adjuster’s repeated failure to give requested deposition — There is no authority for non-final appeal from an order striking a defendant’s pleadings and entering a default under current version of rule 9.130(a)(3)(C), as amendment to rule resulted in removal of provision for appeals of orders determining liability in favor of a party seeking affirmative relief — Such orders are not appealable until final judgment — Even if order were appealable as an interlocutory appeal, insurer still had the right to wait to appeal the order after final judgment in a plenary appeal — Dismissal of appeal quashed — Remand to circuit court for further proceedings

34 Fla. L. Weekly D1578a
22 So. 3d 594

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Rescission of policy — Material misrepresentation in application — Right of rescission for misrepresentation in application contained in section 627.409, Florida Statutes, applies to PIP insurance contracts issued pursuant to Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law — Insurer’s failure to comply with requirement of section 627.728, Florida Statutes, that notice of cancellation be given to insured forty-five days prior to effective date of cancellation, does not abrogate insurer’s ability to void policy ab initio pursuant to section 627.409 — Insurer’s right of rescission is not abrogated by section 627.736(9)(a), which requires that the renewal, cancellation, or nonrenewal of a PIP policy be reported to Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles within 45 days from the effective date of the renewal, cancellation, or nonrenewal — Circuit court appellate division departed from essential requirements of law in affirming county court declaratory decree that insurer’s only remedy was to cancel policy prospectively under section 627.728 where insured had failed to list a member of his household on his insurance application

34 Fla. L. Weekly D2458b
29 So. 3d 1145

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Cancellation of no fault policy can be effective ab initio in light of mandatory requirements imposed by Florida No Fault Law

34 Fla. L. Weekly D1320a
15 So. 3d 701

Insurance — Automobile — Medical expenses coverage — Where endorsement to policy covering automobile which was purchased for plaintiff by party to whom plaintiff was not married, but with whom she was living, provided medical expense coverage to the named insured or any relative, and the named insured was the person who purchased the automobile, coverage was not provided to plaintiff for medical expenses she incurred as result of injuries suffered when she was in an accident while driving the automobile — Policy was not ambiguous as to whether plaintiff was entitled to medical payment coverage — Trial court erred in entering summary judgment for plaintiff, finding that she is entitled to medical expenses coverage — Remand to afford plaintiff opportunity to establish other theories supporting claim for medical expenses coverage