Florida Civil Remedy Notice Insurer Violation ... Court Allows Cure Period.

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  Florida's Bad Faith Statute, Fla. Stat. § 624.155 (2009), requires a Civil Remedy Notice of Insurer Violation to be provided to the affected Insurance Company as a condition precedent to filing a lawsuit under the Statute.

   In the event of a failure to comply with this statutory requirement, the Defendant Insurance Company may be well advised to file a motion to dismiss if such a lawsuit is filed anyway.  This failure may not determine the outcome, however.  Where there is still time for the plaintiff to comply with the statute by filing "a sufficiently specific civil remedy notice," dismissal or even summary judgment may be entered without prejudice, at least where the plaintiff asked the trial court for the additional time to comply, as was apparently the case in Download Fenderson v. United Automobile Insurance Co. (Fla. 4th DCA Case No. 4D08.2894, Opinion on Rehearing Filed March 31, 2010), also published as Fenderson v. United Automobile Insurance Co., 2010 WL 1222630 *1 (Fla. 4th DCA March 31, 2010)(Westlaw subscription required to access Westlaw) .  See Download Villa Maria Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Inc. v. South Broward Hospital District (Fla. 4th DCA Case No. 4D07.4433, Opinion Filed April 8, 2009), also published as Villa Maria Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Inc. v. South Broward Hospital District, 8 So. 3d 1167, 1171-72 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009)(subscription required), the one case cited in Fenderson and applying the statutory notice provisions of Fla. Stat. § 768.26(6)(a) & (b) (2007), brought forward without material change as Fla. Stat. § 768.26(6)(a) & (b) (2009).

 

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