June 13, 2024 | Announcements

Matthew Troy to Speak on Deposition Techniques at Florida Bar Workers’ Compensation Webinar

Matthew J. Troy, a partner in Conroy Simberg’s Orlando office, will be a co-presenter on a webinar presented by The Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education Committee and the Workers’ Compensation Section on July 10, 2024. Titled “The Art of the Deposition, Perspectives from Both Sides,” the webinar will cover the preparation, taking, and defending of depositions in workers' compensation cases, as well as how to prepare depositions for use at final hearing.

May 14, 2024 | Legal Alerts

Review of Privileged Materials at Deposition

Please take note that the Third District recently issued an opinion that may impact how you defend corporate representative depositions in first-party property cases. In the past some of us may have asserted that documents within the claims file are privileged, while at the same time allowing our corporate representative to review those same documents during the deposition to refresh his/her recollection pursuant to a protective order.   

April 29, 2024 | Legal Alerts

Florida Supreme Court Rules on Billed Amount

On April 25, 2024, the Florida Supreme Court issued its decision in Allstate Insurance Company, et. al, v. Revival Chiropractic, LLC, SC2022-0735.    More than a year after oral argument, the Court finally and definitively ruled on “Billed Amount” concluding “…the provisions of both the statute and the policy support Allstate’s payment of 80% of the amount of the charges submitted.”  Id.  Although Revival made its way to the Florida Supreme Court by way of certified question posed by the United States Court of Appeal for the Eleventh Circuit, the Billed Amount issue has pervaded Florida state courts and PIP suits for well over half a decade.  As expressed by the Court, “the question for decision is whether the insurer here may pay 80% of a charge submitted by a provider even when that reimbursement amount is less than the amount that would be reimbursable under the limitations of the statutory schedule of maximum charges.”  In no uncertain terms, the Court found the Allstate policy expressly authorized such a payment and nothing in the PIP statute prevented payment in accordance with Allstate’s policy.  

April 12, 2024 | Verdicts and Settlements

Summary Judgment Secured in Engineering Services Case Not Covered Under Policy

Noelia Vaccaro, an attorney in the firm’s first party practice group prevailed on a motion for summary judgment in a case involving the services of an engineer the insured retained after reporting the loss. She argued that the services the plaintiff performed were not covered under the policy because defendant did not constitute a cost to repair or replace the damaged property, as the plaintiff merely prepared a report that contained no narrative — i.e., no observations, analysis, conclusions, or recommendations — and, instead, consisted primarily of photographs.