Originally posted by jdsupra.com on June 2, 2023

It has been five months since the Florida Legislature took a metaphorical blowtorch to the Florida first-party property insurance litigation landscape. When signing Florida Senate Bill 2A, Governor DeSantis specifically stated that “this bill reins in the incentive to litigate.” While the full impact of Florida Senate Bill 2A is still unknown as it could take years to reshape and/or reduce the volume of property insurance litigation, its elimination of one-way attorneys’ fees will likely change whether and how property insurance cases are litigated. Specifically, it may open the door for plaintiffs to pursue different types of litigation more actively against insurers, including bad faith litigation.

Florida Senate Bill 2A significantly changed the timelines for insurers to adjust and handle claims.1 An insurer does not have to strictly comply with the new time limits if the failure to comply is due to “factors beyond the control of the insurer.”2 § 627.70131(5)(a). Additionally, the insurers’ timing requirements are tolled “upon the failure of a policyholder or a representative of the policyholder to provide material claims information requested by the insurer within 10 days after the request was received. The tolling period ends upon the insurer’s receipt of the requested information. Tolling under this paragraph applies only to requests sent by the insurer to the policyholder or a representative of the policyholder at least 15 days before the insurer is required to pay or deny the claim or a portion of the claim.” § 627.70131(8)(b).

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originally posted on April 27th at jdsupra.com

In an issue of first impression, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Allstate and held that the two-year statute of limitations for bad faith claims begins to run when the claimant should have known about the insurer’s alleged bad faith acts, rather than when the claim is resolved. In Marinelarena v. Allstate Northbrook Indem. Co., 2023 WL 3033498 (9th Cir. 2023), the plaintiff alleged that she suffered injuries in a 2016 car accident with a hit and run driver. Two years later, in January 2018, Marinelarena made a policy limit demand for uninsured motorist benefits. Allstate declined the demand and insisted on taking steps to further investigate the claim. Eventually, because the parties could not agree on the value of the claim, they proceeded to uninsured motorist or UM arbitration, after which the arbitrator issued an award in Marinelarena’s favor. Allstate immediately paid the award.

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originally posted on April 29th by Forbes.com

Insurance bad faith lawsuit recoveries can be significant, dwarfing the underlying dispute. By definition, a bad faith case comes out of an underlying dispute or accident. That duality can make the tax treatment of insurance bad faith recoveries especially tricky. However, it can also invite tax planning. If the underlying incident was a physical injury accident, the compensatory damages should presumably be tax free. But in a later bad faith case, does that mean that the bad faith recovery should also get the same physical injury character?

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originally posted by by Brent Cooper , Nathan Adams IV and Tiffany A Roddenberry with Holland & Knight

• Florida has enacted sweeping changes to its negligence liability system by replacing its pure comparative negligence system with a modified comparative negligence system and shortening the statute of limitations in general negligence actions from four to two years.
• The state has amended the standard for bad-faith insurance claims, outlined the evidence that a factfinder calculating medical damages in personal injury or wrongful death actions must consider, and mandated new disclosures about letters of protection used to obtain medical treatment.
• In addition, Florida has limited the use of contingency-fee multipliers when calculating attorneys' fees and modified premises liability law as it relates to negligent security claims.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a far-reaching tort reform bill, numbered CS/CS/HB 837 (HB 837), into law on March 24, 2023. A rush to the courthouse with negligence lawsuits in advance of its effective date on the same day suggests that HB 837 will curtail the overall tort liability confronted by all kinds of companies operating in Florida.

The bill replaces Florida's system of pure comparative negligence with a modified comparative negligence regime, shortens the statute of limitations for general negligence actions from four years to two, amends the standard for bad-faith insurance claims, outlines the evidence that a factfinder calculating medical damages in personal injury or wrongful death actions should consider, requires new disclosures about letters of protection used to obtain medical treatment, limits the use of contingency-fee multipliers when calculating attorneys' fees, and replaces joint and several liability with comparative negligence in certain negligent security cases.

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