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In Lunas v. Cooperativa, 37 Fla. L. Weekly D2568, 2nd DCA, November 2, 2012, the Second District Court of appeal reversed the trial court’s order granting a motion to enforce settlement between an insurer and insured. In this sinkhole case, the insured demanded to settle a claim requesting two checks: one payable to the insured and mortgagee and ...
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Bad Faith Insurance Defense Preparedness
Recently I mistakenly received a request to attend a Plaintiff’s bad faith seminar entitled “Bad Faith Insurance Summit”. As I represent insurers in these matters I could not go. To all my friends in the insurance industry, take a second to look at the link (www.360advocacy.com) describing the seminars at the summit presentation. The topics include: R... -
The Bad Faith Trial – A New Defense Perspective
While researching “reported” jury verdicts on bad faith matters I ran across a striking statistic: roughly 87% of the reported decisions were favorable to Plaintiff’s. Any kind of bad faith trial, especially an insurer’s defense verdict seems to be a rare commodity these days. With increased training for claims staff over the last several years (see SHM’s list of Florida approved seminars) I question why these cases are still settled after reviewing claim files and the underlying defense attorney’s file. As we know, those on the Plaintiff’s side will not be putting down their legal briefs or marketing their services to other plaintiff’s lawyers without a real reason to do so. The following will be an ongoing blog entry on a trial of the bad faith claim and how the training and preparation of the same will assist the entire insurance industry from more of these claims in the future. Continue reading »
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Florida Law Update
The Supreme Court of Florida addressed an important bad faith issue in the Perrara v. United States Fidelity and Guarantee Company, matter on May 6, 2010. The case came to the Supreme Court after the Eleventh Circuit certified the following question to the Supreme Court: “May a cause of action for third-party bad faith against an indemnity insurer be ma... -
District Court Grants Summary Judgment in Favor of Insurer on Bad Faith Claim
Though Florida courts regularly deny summary judgment motions in bad faith cases on the basis that such claims present questions of fact appropriate only for jurors, the court in Shin Crest Pte, Ltd. v. AIU Ins. Co.¸605 F. Supp. 2d 1234 (M.D. Fla. 2009), boldly granted such a motion filed by AIU in a case involving a stipulated judgment of $12 million. Continue reading »