A three-judge panel of Florida's Third District Court of Appeal unanimously followed settled Florida law that a Florida First-Party Bad Faith Claim (which is always Statutory) is "premature" unless both of two things have happened: (1) No defense is raised or, if raised, is available which would defeat Coverage and (2) the Policyholder's-Insured's actual loss has been determined. Download State Farm Florida Ins. Co. v. Seville Place Condominium Ass'n (Fla. 3d DCA Opinion Filed October 14, 2009).
However, the panel split 2-to-1 on "finality". The two-judge majority held in this case that a final judgment is not a condition precedent to the Policyholder's prosecution of the First-Party Bad Faith Action. Download State Farm Florida Ins. Co. v. Seville Place Condominium Ass'n (Fla. 3d DCA Opinion Filed October 14, 2009), attached Official Slipsheet Opinion at 9-10. The dissenting judge would hold that a final judgment is a condition precedent, under existing Florida Insurance Law. Download State Farm Florida Ins. Co. v. Seville Place Condominium Ass'n (Fla. 3d DCA Opinion Filed October 14, 2009), at 14-15 n.7.
Express Statutory Causes of Action in First-Party Bad Faith Cases are laid out in ยง 9:14 by Dennis J. Wall, "Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith" (Second Edition Shepard's/ McGraw-Hill/2009 Supplement West Publishing Company).
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