2019

44 Fla. L. Weekly D445a
267 So. 3d 411

Insurance — Stipulations — Trial court erred by permitting insured to withdraw from its pretrial factual stipulation that it was seeking a specific amount in code upgrade costs where insured’s purported mistake in law regarding its interpretation of the policy was not good cause for withdrawal from its factual stipulation — Where neither party withdrew from stipulation regarding amounts insurer had already paid, court was bound by the agreed-upon amount

44 Fla. L. Weekly D996b
272 So. 3d 523

Insurance — Commercial general liability — Duty to defend — Trial court improperly relied on extrinsic evidence in entering summary judgment finding that insurer had no duty to defend action against insured which installed failed fire suppressant system in aircraft hangar — Where insurer claimed that it did not have a duty to defend or indemnify because coverage was barred by policy’s total pollution exclusion, it was error for trial court, in granting summary judgment for insurer, to rely on insurer’s claims specialist’s Material Safety Data Sheet to determine that fire suppressant foam from system was a pollutant and excluded from coverage — Exception to general rule that insurer’s duty to defend is determined by allegations of complaint where claim that there is no duty to defend is based on factual issues that would not normally be alleged in complaint is inapplicable where extrinsic evidence was not uncontroverted or manifestly obvious so as to preclude coverage

44 Fla. L. Weekly D1355a
273 So. 3d 251

Insurance — Commercial general liability — Fictitious names — Off-premises injuries — Plaintiff injured drilling well on residential customer’s property — Insured operating two businesses under similar but different fictitious names, only one of which was a named insured on policy — No error in finding that policy did not provide coverage for plaintiff’s injuries where “d/b/a” designation on policy limited liability to insured’s feed store business, and plaintiff was working as an independent contractor for the insured’s well drilling business — Trial court correctly found that policies did not provide coverage for well drilling operations because well drilling was not necessary or incidental to the feed store business conducted on the premises

44 Fla. L. Weekly D2370a
279 So. 3d 821

Insurance — Class actions — Jurisdiction — Trial court should have dismissed, for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, second amended complaint against insurer’s agent seeking declaratory judgment and damages based on contention that inclusion of managing general agent fee on policy violated the law because agent did not place the policy and was not acting as a legitimate managing general agent — Challenge to MGA fee was administrative matter related to rate and premium which should have been initially addressed with Office of Insurance Regulation — Whether MGA fee can be charged for each policy, regardless of whether insurer’s MGA actually placed the policy with the insurer, is regulatory issue that agency should resolve

44 Fla. L. Weekly D1513b
275 So. 3d 744

Insurance — Claim for breach of duty to adjust against Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is barred by Citizens’ statutory sovereign immunity

44 Fla. L. Weekly D2578b

NOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 45 Fla. L. Weekly D642a

Insurance — Homeowners — Actual cash value — Evidence — Matching costs — Action for breach of insurance contract alleging that insurer failed to pay actual cash value for loss — No abuse of discretion in granting motion in limine precluding insured from introducing evidence of matching costs where plain language of insurance policy and relevant statutes limit the initial payment of actual cash value to the direct physical loss to the property, and matching is not a direct physical loss — Entry of judgment as to breach of contract reversed where trial court committed procedural error by summarily concluding that insured could not recover for breach of contract despite neither party moving for summary judgment — Declaratory judgment — Directed verdict — Trial court erred in entering directed verdict in declaratory action — Declaration requested was moot where question of law had been previously settled — Moreover, trial court exceeded its procedural authority in directing verdict prior to commencement of trial

44 Fla. L. Weekly D1232a
271 So. 3d 1013

Insurance — Homeowners — Water damage — Coverage — Bad faith — Insurer’s post-suit payment of appraisal award constituted a confession that it breached policy by denying coverage above policy’s $1000 leakage sublimit in its formal response to insureds’ claim — Incorrect partial denial of benefits suffices to give rise to a confession of judgment — Conditions precedent to suit — Sworn proof of loss — Waiver — Insurer waived proof-of-loss requirement by denying coverage above policy sublimits based upon grounds other than insureds’ failure to furnish a notice or proof of loss — Bad faith — Trial court erred in entering summary judgment in favor of insurer on insureds’ bad faith claim — Claim is ripe where insurer’s liability for coverage and extent of damages have been established, and genuine issues of material fact remain as to whether insurer exercised good faith and fair dealing when it incorrectly invoked $1000 leakage sublimit in its formal response to claim

44 Fla. L. Weekly D2961a
285 So. 3d 1036

Insurance — Homeowners — Bad faith — Unfair or deceptive acts or practices — Jury instructions — Trial court erred in refusing to give insured’s requested bad faith jury instruction which included acts identified in section 626.9541(1)(i)3. — Although trial court’s standard jury instruction for bad faith was a correct statement of the law, it failed to encompass the pleadings and proof elicited at trial and resulted in a miscarriage of justice — A party’s ability to make an argument to the jury does not substitute the need for a complementary instruction not covered in the standard instruction — Reversed for new trial where insurer cannot show that trial court’s failure to instruct jury as requested did not contribute to verdict

44 Fla. L. Weekly D618c
272 So. 3d 448

Insurance — Bad faith — Cure period — Error to enter summary judgment in favor of insurer on bad faith claim based on conclusion that insurer had timely paid claim because claim was paid within sixty days of when insurer actually received insured’s civil remedy notice pursuant to section 624.155 — The sixty-day cure period under section 624.155 begins to run when the CRN is electronically filed with the Department of Financial Services, and to avoid a bad faith action the insurer must pay the claim or take corrective action within sixty days from the date of electronic filing — Nothing in the plain language of the statute requires an insurer to actually receive the CRN before cure period begins — Because insurer did not mail settlement payment to insured’s counsel within sixty days of electronic filing date, insured was entitled to pursue bad faith action against insurer

44 Fla. L. Weekly D2962b
285 So. 3d 383

Insurance — Automobile liability — Coverage — Bodily injury — Limits of liability — Per person/per occurrence limits — Trial court erred in holding that loss of consortium claims by parents of individual who was killed while insured was operating his vehicle were separate “bodily injury” claims such that their claims were not subject to policy’s single per-person limit — “Bodily injury” was plainly and unambiguously defined by policy’s definitions section to mean “bodily harm, sickness or disease, including death therefrom,” and based on that definition, limits of liability provision is properly read to mean that bodily injury limit stated on the declarations page was the most insurer would pay when there was a bodily injury to one person and that the damages subject to that limit included damages for the care of the injured person and loss of consortium or loss of services sustained as a result of the same injuries by any other person