In Florida, First-Party Bad Faith Cases may be filed under a Statute, Section 624.155. One of the statutory conditions precedent to filing a Section 624.155 lawsuit is a Civil Remedy Notice of Insurer Violation. The complainant sends the original to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (formerly the Florida Department of Insurance), and sends a copy to the affected Insurer which has a certain amount of time to "cure" the alleged Bad Faith.
In Bolllinger v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 2012 WL 112937 (S.D. Fla. January 12, 2012), Download Bollinger v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (S.D. Fla. Case No. 1.11cv14257, Order Filed January 12, 2012) PUBLIC ACCESS, there was no Civil Remedy Notice but there was a lawsuit. At least a lawsuit was filed.
State Farm was Ms. Betty Bollinger's Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist carrier. She was injured in an automobile accident with a third-party tortfeasor and State Farm gave her permission to settle with the tortfeasor for the tortfeasor's liability policy limits. Ms. Bollinger then demanded the $10,000 UM/UIM Policy Limits on her own State Farm Policy on the ground that her Damages exceeded the liability policy limits of the tortfeasor and her UM/UIM Coverage should compensate her for her uninsured loss. State Farm at first declined. Id. at *1.
Ms. Bollinger then sued State Farm in Florida State Court, apparently for alleged First-Party Bad Faith in addition to her UM/UIM Policy Limits. State Farm reconsidered its position on offering the UM/UIM Policy Limits to her, and decided to offer the limits after Ms. Bollinger filed suit. This time, she did the declination. Her lawsuit proceeded to Trial and a Jury awarded Ms. Bollinger $410,000.00. It was then that State Farm removed the lawsuit to Federal Court. Id.
However, no-one filed or served a Civil Remedy Notice before Ms. Bollinger's lawsuit was filed in the first place. Id. at *2. The Federal Court held that the lack of a statutorily required Civil Remedy Notice was sufficient grounds for dismissal in and of itself.
For that reason alone, the Federal Court held, there was no basis for Federal Jurisdiction. The Federal Court accordingly dismissed Ms. Bollinger's lawsuit on the ground of lack of Federal Jurisdiction, specifically, on the ground that Ms. Bollinger's First-Party Bad Faith Claim was not yet "ripe". Id. at *3.
The glaring absence of a Civil Remedy Notice can be fatal to any action for Florida First-Party Bad Faith. In this recent decision under Florida Statute Section 624.155, the Court held that where there is no Civil Remedy Notice, there is no Federal Case.
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