In a recent decision, a Florida intermediate Appellate Court addressed an issue of first impression and great public importance: Whether Citizens Property Insurance Corporation can be sued for First-Party Bad Faith under Florida's Bad Faith Statute, Fla. Stat. § 624.155?
The Court's answer was "no." The enabling statute for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation involved in the new decision was numbered as Florida Statute Section 627.351(6)(r)1 (2008), brought forward without material change as Fla. Stat. § 627.351(6)(s)1 (2009). Section 627.351(6)(s)1 lists the types of causes of action for which Citizens may be sued. First-Party Bad Faith actions under Florida Statute Section 624.155 are not among them. Florida does not recognize First-Party Bad Faith causes of action at Common Law. Reasoning that a cause of action for First-Party Bad Faith under Florida's Bad Faith Statute is not among the causes of action allowed by Citizens' enabling statute, Florida's Fifth District Court of Appeal held that Citizens is immunized against it: Download Citizens Property Insurance Corporation v. Garfinkel (Fla. 5th DCA Opinion Filed December 18, 2009), attached Official Slipsheet Opinion at 7 .
Citizens' enabling statute required it, and still requires it, to act in Good Faith. Fla. Stat. § 627.351(6)(r)2 (2008), renumbered as Fla. Stat. § 627.351(6)(s)2 (2009). See Fla. Stat. § 627.351(6)(a)4 (2009). In the view of the Citizens Property Insurance Court, this was not enough of an expression of Legislative will to override the more explicit guarantees of immunity enacted in the enabling statute. The Fifth District Court of Appeal's opinion followed the announcement of its conclusion in this regard, with several pages in which the Court discussed the various reasons for its decision. Download Citizens Property Insurance Corporation v. Garfinkel (Fla. 5th DCA Opinion Filed December 18, 2009), at 7-12.
There will almost certainly be a Motion for Rehearing, and the Fifth District's decision in this case will not be final until a Motion for Rehearing is disposed of. After that, the next likely step will involve invoking appellate review by the Supreme Court of Florida.
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