Ms. Cecelia Dellavecchia alleged that GEICO, her Uninsured Motorist Insurance Company did not attempt in good faith to settle her U.M. Claim by, in part:
(b) failing to adopt and implement standards for the proper investigation of claims;
(c) failing to acknowledge and act promptly upon communications with respect to claims;
(d) failing to properly notify its insured of any additional information necessary for the processing of the claim;
(e) failing to clearly explain the nature of information eventually requested and the reasons why such information was necessary;
*3 (f) failing to provide a reasonable written explanation of the basis in the insurance policy, in relation to the facts or applicable law, for its wholly inadequate offer of settlement; [and]
(g) failing to properly train adjusters and claims personnel[.]
(Compl.¶ 14).
Dellavecchia v. GEICO General Ins. Co., 2010 WL 53029 *2 - *3 (M.D. Fla., Opinion Filed January 7, 2011).
Ms. Dellavecchia sued GEICO under Fla. Stat. §§ 624.155(1)(b)1 and 627.727(10). The controlling statute in her case, Section 624.155, provides for a "cure" period during which an Insurance Company accused of Bad Faith under the Statute can cure the violation alleged against it.
Subsection (d) of Section 624.155 contains the "cure" provision:
(d) No action shall lie if, within 60 days after filing notice, the damages are paid or the circumstances giving rise to the violation are corrected.
The Florida State Statute provides an opportunity to cure or correct "the circumstances giving rise to the violation," or to pay "the damages," in short. The Federal Court limited this Florida State Statute just to paying the damages alone. The Federal Court's holding seemingly reads out of the State Statute the opportunity to correct "the circumstances giving rise to the violation" in Ms. Dellavecchia's case:
Addressing the allegations in paragraph 14 would not suffice to cure the wrongful failure to settle the claim. Dellavecchia properly served notice that GEICO wrongfully failed to pay her claim. The "cure" was payment.
Dellavecchia, 2010 WL 53029 at *3. It appears that GEICO may have been deprived of the statutorily provided opportunity to correct the circumstances alleged in paragraph 14 of Ms. Dellavecchia's complaint, quoted above, leaving GEICO with only one Federally available alternative to Ms. Dellavecchia's Bad Faith lawsuit:
Pay.
Express Statutory Claims and Causes of Action in First-Party Bad Faith Cases, including under Fla. Stat. § 624.155, are addressed in Section 9:14 by Dennis J. Wall, "Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith" (Shepard's/McGraw-Hill Second Edition, West Publishing Co. 2010 Supplement).
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