News & Events

On April 28, 2022, the Florida Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dial v. Calusa Palms Master Assoc., Inc., in which the Court put to rest, once and for all, the Plaintiffs’ bar’s argument that the Court’s prior opinion in Joerg v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., 176 So. 3d 1247 (Fla. 2015) had no application to the question of whether the Plaintiff may introduce the gross amount of his/her past medical bills into evidence. In Joerg, the Supreme Court held that the defense was not entitled to introduce evidence that the Plaintiff would be receiving Medicare or other benefits in the future and therefore, the Plaintiff is entitled to introduce evidence of anticipated future medical expenses without reduction for anticipated future Medicare of other benefits. The Plaintiffs’ bar has been arguing for years that Joerg impliedly overruled the substantial District Court of Appeal precedent holding that a Plaintiff may only introduce into evidence the amount of his/her past medical expenses to the extent that those expenses had been paid by Medicare and not the gross amount of the bills before Medicare reduced them. 

West Palm Beach attorneys Melissa G. McDavitt and Brittany N. Jones, prevailed on their Motion for Final Summary Judgment on a late reported hurricane Irma claim. The court, in granting the Defendant’s Motion found Plaintiff failed to rebut the presumption of prejudice to the Defendant as a result of their late reporting. 

While plaintiffs’ lawyers like to continuously point their fingers at insurance companies, the reality is that insurers must contend with a number of minefields and difficulties on all sides. When insurance companies deny claims, they are portrayed as heartless and penny-pinching; however, increases in fraud and litigation have made things precarious for Florida’s homeowners' insurance companies. Now, many of them are on the verge of bankruptcy and could go out of business without help from the Florida Legislature. 

Workers’ compensation insurance providers are not powerless when they have to pay out claims where a third party was responsible for the injury. In these situations, the insurance provider has the right of subrogation, where it can recover what it paid for the claim from the responsible party. Subrogation can occur when someone outside the employment relationship caused the injury.

The legal landscape in which insurance companies operate is constantly in flux, especially when technology is involved. There are core legal obligations that require insurance companies to play defense when dealing with cybersecurity issues; however, an insurance company can get ahead of these issues by being proactive. At a minimum, carriers must follow data security safeguard laws.