2015

40 Fla. L. Weekly S553a
176 So. 3d 1247

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Evidence — Collateral source benefits — Evidence of future Medicare benefits is not admissible — Court recedes from decision in Physician’s Insurance Reciprocal v. Stanley to the extent that it supported the admission of social legislation benefits as an exception to the evidentiary collateral source rule

40 Fla. L. Weekly S97b
158 So. 3d 514

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Where the sole named insured’s name was removed from an auto policy, and his daughter was listed as named insured on the policy for the first time, a new policy was created — Insurer was required to advise the daughter of her right to uninsured motorist benefits equal to her liability limits and to obtain a written waiver of those benefits before reducing them under section 627.727, Florida Statutes (2008) — The original named insured’s waiver of uninsured motorist benefits equal to liability limits did not apply to the daughter as the sole named insured on her policy or as the personal representative of her father’s estate under her policy

40 Fla. L. Weekly D1289a
164 So. 3d 790

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Rejection of coverage — Evidence supported insurer’s contention that wife, who was listed as additional driver under policy, was acting as agent of husband, who was named insured, when she modified policy to reject UM coverage

40 Fla. L. Weekly D2153a
174 So. 3d 1082

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Torts — Automobile accident — Damages — Noneconomic — Past and future pain and suffering — Remittitur — Trial court abused its discretion when it reduced jury awards for past and future pain and suffering against UM insurer by nearly $1 million without explaining what in the record demonstrated the need for remittitur and the reason for the amount chosen — Comparison of pain and suffering awards in other cases does not show basis for affirming trial court in instant case — Remand for entry of order which contains necessary findings and conclusions to support remittitur

40 Fla. L. Weekly D436a
157 So. 3d 521

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Action by plaintiff, who was involved in work-related automobile accident while driving vehicle owned and insured by his employer, challenging limits of employer’s uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance coverage, which were up to $500,000 for executives and their families, but only up to $30,000 for all other insureds, including employees like plaintiff — Trial court correctly construed statute as allowing for different coverage limits among insureds

40 Fla. L. Weekly D617a
165 So. 3d 674

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Attorney’s fees — Proposal for settlement — Trial court improperly awarded attorney’s fees and costs, pursuant to rejected proposal for settlement, where the proposal was patently ambiguous, spelling out “one hundred thousand dollars” in words but referring to $50,000 in numerals

40 Fla. L. Weekly D976a
163 So. 3d 635

Torts — Contracts — Limitation of actions — Action by party who purchased parcels in an undeveloped condominium project where the party allegedly thought that it was buying vacant, unencumbered raw land against title insurance company, attorney that represented the party and was title insurance company’s title agent, and attorney’s law firm that was the closing agent — Claims against title insurance company for breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud as closing agent and breach of contract for title commitments, against attorney for legal malpractice, fraud, and constructive fraud in his capacity as party’s attorney, and against attorney’s law firm for constructive fraud and breach of fiduciary duty in its role as closing agent are all barred under statutes of limitations — Statutes of limitations were not tolled by attorney’s fraudulent concealment where there was no evidence of fraudulent concealment after closing on the purchase

40 Fla. L. Weekly D917b
162 So. 3d 1079

Insurance — Rescission of policy — Unclean hands — Civil procedure — Avoidance of affirmative defenses — Trial court erred in entering summary judgment for insurer in action to rescind policy, ruling that unclean hands precluded insureds from asserting affirmative defenses of waiver and estoppel, where insurer failed to plead doctrine of unclean hands prior to second motion for summary judgment — Issue of unclean hands, asserted as an avoidance to affirmative defenses, should have been pleaded in a reply to answer

40 Fla. L. Weekly D2352a
178 So. 3d 448

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Trial court erred in awarding PIP benefits to insured where insurer did not receive notice of PIP claim because statement for medical services did not comply with section 627.736(5)(d), Florida Statutes

40 Fla. L. Weekly D2364a
182 So. 3d 661

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Deductible — Circuit court, sitting in its appellate capacity, departed from essential requirements of law in affirming county court judgment holding that a provider of emergency services which submits bills in accordance with section 627.736(4)(c), Florida Statutes, is entitled to have the bills paid, regardless of a deductible in the insured’s policy — Where an emergency service provider submits its claims within the statutory 30-day reserve period, those claims will be prioritized for payment, but any such payment will be subject to any deductibles that exist in the insurance contract between the insured and the insurer