In Download Mills v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Insurance Co. (Fla. 1st DCA Opinion Filed December 22, 2009), Florida's First District Court of Appeal adhered to the settled view in Florida, and elsewhere, that Questions of Good Faith and Fair Dealing ordinarily will be resolved by a Jury as Questions of "Fact". This view is so settled, and so strong, that Summary Judgment may even be improper in the ordinary Bad Faith Lawsuit, at least under this Court's holding, perhaps:
The question of whether a liability insurer has acted in bad faith in handling a claim against the insured is determined upon the totality of the circumstances, with each case determined on its own unique facts. The question of failure to act in good faith is ordinarily for the jury. Boston Old Colony Ins. Co. v. Gutierrez[, 386 So. 2d 783 (Fla. 1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 922 (1981)]; Contreras v. U.S. Security Ins. Co., 927 So. 2d 16 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006). Where material issues of fact which might support a jury finding of bad faith are in dispute, summary judgment is improper. See Berges [v. Infinity Insurance Co., 896 So. 2d 665 (Fla. 2004)] at 680-81.
Download Mills v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Insurance Co. (Fla. 1st DCA Opinion Filed December 22, 2009), attached Official Slipsheet Opinion at 2-3. [Emphasis added.]
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