2012

37 Fla. L. Weekly D2259a

NOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 38 Fla. L. Weekly D74d

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Trial court erred in entering summary judgment finding that there was no uninsured motorist coverage because insured had failed to give written notice to insurer of the uninsured motorist claim — Notice given by insured to insurance broker was notice to insurer because broker was both an agent of the insured and the insurer — Although there was no written notice of claim as required by policy, the written notice requirement can be waived when the insurer has actual notice of the claim — Summary judgment was improper because there was factual issue as to whether broker’s employee told insured to cash settlement check which had been tendered by underinsured motorist’s insurer but not to sign a release — If insured was not advised to cash the settlement check, the question becomes whether the settlement with underinsured motorist’s insurer prejudiced uninsured motorist insurer

37 Fla. L. Weekly D2715a
102 So. 3d 685

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Damages — Trial court erred in denying insurer’s motion for remittitur or new trial where verdict’s award of damages for future medical expenses was not supported by evidence — Where damages are sought for future medical expenses, only medical expenses that are reasonably certain to be incurred in the future are recoverable

37 Fla. L. Weekly D1355a
95 So. 3d 897

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Damages — Trial court erred in refusing to instruct jury to reduce future economic damages to present value — New trial required as to future economic damages — Evidence — Error to admit, and allow plaintiff to testify from, website pages maintained by the U.S. government which attempted to simplify and explain in lay terms how one can estimate amount of future potential military retirement benefits — Printouts were not admissible under public records exception where there was no attempt to authenticate, and printouts did not simply set forth activities of a government agency or matters observed pursuant to a duty to report — Trial court was not permitted to take judicial notice of facts contained in printouts simply because the trial court could readily verify it as an authoritative source — Argument that plaintiff’s testimony on the issue was based upon formulas easily gleaned from federal statutes, and that trial court properly took judicial notice of these statutes, is rejected where the information forming the basis for plaintiff’s testimony cannot be found in any of the statutes cited by plaintiff — Remand for new trial as to future economic damages

37 Fla. L. Weekly D492a
79 So. 3d 947

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Single vehicle accident — Plaintiff injured in single vehicle accident while riding in insured truck owned by a third party that was pulling an uninsured trailer owned by yet another person — Trial court erred in entering summary judgment in favor of insurer where it incorrectly concluded that the trailer was part of an insured auto and thus not uninsured for purposes of UM coverage — Trailer was uninsured for the purposes of UM coverage because plain language of policy treated a trailer as a separate auto where liability section defined “non-owned” and “owned auto” to include a trailer and UM section incorporated these definitions by reference, and trailer came within definition of “uninsured auto” since trailer did not meet definition of “insured auto”

37 Fla. L. Weekly D379a
81 So. 3d 538

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Evidence — Expert — Trial court abused its discretion in excluding testimony of insurer’s medical billing and coding expert where insurer argued that insured’s medical providers fabricated or exaggerated medical care necessary for insured’s alleged injuries and expert’s testimony that bills did not correlate to treatment in medical records was relevant to prove this defense — Expert’s testimony regarded a technical matter of which jury did not have basic knowledge — It was clear from expert’s deposition that she had specialized knowledge and training to express opinion on whether bills were properly coded and whether they corresponded to medical records documenting the purported treatment — New trial on damages required

37 Fla. L. Weekly D2488a
99 So. 3d 625

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Attorney’s fees — Contingent award — Appeals — Certiorari — Order awarding contingent attorney’s fees in action against insurer for uninsured motorist benefits, although a departure from essential requirements of current law, will not cause any irreparable damage to insurer — Order is essentially preemptive determination of issues that may or may not arise in subsequent action for bad faith, and the relevance of the order in a subsequent lawsuit is a matter for resolution by judge in that proceeding

37 Fla. L. Weekly D1731a
93 So. 3d 476

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Claim by uninsured motorist insurer that error impacted amount of damages determined by jury not addressed on appeal where jury verdict found wrongful death plaintiff’s damages were in excess of $30 million, but judgment entered against insurer was based on applicable policy limit of $50,000

37 Fla. L. Weekly D2759a
107 So. 3d 1135

Insurance — Condominiums — Hurricane damage — Subrogation rights — Third party subrogation action filed by insurer against developer and contractor, who performed exterior repairs on condominiums prior to condominiums sustaining damage following hurricanes, alleging that the damage to condominiums was the result of defective construction by developer and contractor — No error in granting developer’s and contractor’s motion for summary judgment where plain language of agreement under which developer and contractor undertook repairs released them from liability for any damage subsequent to their repairs, and release covered same matters that were subject to insurer’s third party action

37 Fla. L. Weekly D475a
80 So. 3d 429

Insurance — Aircraft — Passenger liability insurance — Personal accident reinsurance policy providing coverage for death or injury to passengers in specified amount “not exceeding 10x annual salary” — Ambiguities — Action against reinsurer which denied reimbursement for claims arising out of death of passengers in aircraft crash on ground that reinsurance policy covered only employed passengers — Trial court correctly concluded that contract was ambiguous as to whether policy provided coverage only to employed passengers — Because of unique and highly specialized nature of insurance provided, and because of factual dispute as to which party chose the language of the policy, case is one in which extrinsic evidence should be used to help resolve ambiguity in policy — Remand to allow parties to submit extrinsic evidence on what, if any, coverage is provided to unemployed passengers — Court notes that factual dispute exists regarding role of broker and whether his knowledge and understanding of policy can be imputed to plaintiff as its agent

37 Fla. L. Weekly D2825a
102 So. 3d 732

Insurance — Property — Notice of claim — Untimely notice — Trial court erred in finding that insured’s untimely notice of claim, served twenty-nine months after alleged loss, barred claim as matter of law — Proper inquiry is whether insurer was prejudiced by untimely notice — Remand for reconsideration of insurer’s motion for summary judgment and insured’s response for purposes of prejudice analysis