2017

42 Fla. L. Weekly D2455c
229 So. 3d 901

NOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 43 Fla. L. Weekly D318a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Deductible — When calculating the amount of PIP benefits due, the deductible is to be subtracted from the total medical charges before applying the statutory reimbursement limitations provided in section 627.736(5)(a)1.b., Florida Statutes (2014)

42 Fla. L. Weekly D1732b
227 So. 3d 672

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Judgment for insurer in action alleging that insurer breached contract by refusing to pay for medical treatment of named insured’s son who had not been disclosed as member of household at time policy was applied for, and who sustained injuries in accident while driving insured vehicle — Petition for second tier certiorari review of circuit court appellate division order affirming judgment for insurer is denied where circuit court provided due process and applied correct law

42 Fla. L. Weekly D893a

NOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 42 Fla. L. Weekly D2503a

Appeals — Certiorari — Second-tier certiorari review of decision of circuit court appellate division regarding sufficiency of personal injury protection policy language to limit reimbursements to providers to Medicare fee schedules — Where Florida Supreme Court has now resolved conflicting decisions and determined the issue, second-tier certiorari review of circuit court decision which pre-dated supreme court decision is appropriate — Petition for writ of certiorari granted

42 Fla. L. Weekly D2503a
253 So. 3d 36

Appeals — Certiorari — Second-tier certiorari review of decision of circuit court appellate division regarding sufficiency of personal injury protection policy language to limit reimbursements to providers to Medicare fee schedules — District court has no jurisdiction to review decision of circuit court appellate division where there was no binding decision from district court in which circuit court sits and there were conflicting non-binding decisions from other district courts — Subsequent Florida Supreme Court decision cannot be applied retroactively to circuit court appellate division decision which has become final — Question certified: Does a district court of appeal have jurisdiction to grant a petition for second-tier certiorari in a case in which there is direct conflict on a determinative issue as between (a) the circuit court appellate division case which is the subject of the second-tier petition, and (b) a decision by a different circuit court appellate division panel within the same district, when each of the conflicting decisions was rendered in the absence of a controlling decision by the district court for that district?

42 Fla. L. Weekly S38a
212 So. 3d 973

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Limitation of reimbursements to providers to permissive Medicare fee schedules — Policy endorsement stating that “any amounts payable under this coverage shall be subject to any and all limitations, authorized by section 627.736, or any other provisions of the Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law, as enacted, amended or otherwise continued in the law, including, but not limited to, all fee schedules,” is legally sufficient notice of the insurer’s election to use the permissive Medicare fee schedules to limit reimbursements for medical expenses

42 Fla. L. Weekly D408a
211 So. 3d 1086

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Constitutionality of statute — County court erred in finding that statute which limits PIP benefits to $2,500 if a provider determines that the injured person did not have an emergency medical condition, and excludes chiropractors from the list of professionals that are authorized to diagnose a patient with an emergency medical condition, is unconstitutional as applied to chiropractors on equal protection and due process grounds — Rational basis — Statute bears a rational relationship to objective of reducing fraud — Chiropractors are not similarly situated to other medical providers to make an emergency medical condition diagnosis — Where there has been no emergency medical condition diagnosis or no-emergency medical condition diagnosis, available PIP medical benefits are limited to $2,500

42 Fla. L. Weekly D465b
211 So. 3d 1115

Insurance — Long-term care — Coverage — Trial court properly determined that policy was not ambiguous, and that insured was not entitled to receive home health care benefits after she transferred from an independent living facility to an assisted living facility — When insured transferred to assisted living facility, she was no longer covered by the long-term care provisions of the policy and was no longer entitled to premium waiver — Summary judgment was properly entered for insurer in insured’s breach of contract action

42 Fla. L. Weekly D1164a

Creditors’ rights — Proceedings supplementary — Impleader of third parties — Homestead exemption — Exceptions — Alimony creditors — Trial court erred in denying former wife’s motion to implead former husband’s new wife in proceedings supplementary based on its conclusion that former husband’s transfer of real property and insurance policy to his new wife could not be fraudulent as a matter of law due to constitutional and statutory exemptions — Exception to constitutional and statutory homestead protections for alimony creditors has long been recognized in Florida where former spouse claiming homestead protection acted egregiously, reprehensibly, or fraudulently — Similarly, statutory protection for cash surrender values of life insurance policies is removed if exemption results from a fraudulent transfer or conveyance — Remand for appropriate proceedings to determine if former husband acted either egregiously, reprehensibly, or fraudulently so as to justify forced sale of protected property

42 Fla. L. Weekly D192a
211 So. 3d 240

Estates — Insurance — Estate’s settlement of negligence suit by entering into Coblentz agreement in which plaintiff and estate agreed to entry of consent judgment, with plaintiff agreeing not to execute on judgment against estate, and estate assigning to plaintiff any rights it had against its insurer which had declined to defend claim — Trial court erred in permitting insurer to intervene in probate proceedings to challenge the personal representative’s authority to settle negligence action by entering into Coblentz agreement — It was error to allow insurer to intervene in non-adversarial probate proceedings where insurer’s interest was not already at issue in proceedings — After insurer refused to defend insured, and insured later settled suit by entering into Coblentz agreement, insurer was precluded from relitigating issue of insured’s liability in subsequent proceedings, so that insurer was prohibited from raising any defenses on behalf of insured in probate court’s proceedings that it could have raised had it chosen to defend insured in negligence lawsuit — Trial court erred in entering summary judgment for insurer in bad faith suit brought against insurer

42 Fla. L. Weekly D1781a
224 So. 3d 870

Torts — Automobile accident — Joinder of insurer in final judgment against insured — Trial court departed from essential requirements of law, resulting in irreparable harm, when it granted motion to join insurer in judgment against insured where motion was filed more than 15 days after judgment became final