... to Summary Judgment in Goheagan v. American Vehicle Insurance Co., 2012 WL 2120182 (Fla. 4th DCA June 13, 2012), Download Goheagan v. American Vehicle Ins. Co. (Fla. 4th DCA June 13, 2012).
The Florida Appellate Court concluded accordingly in this case involving alleged Bad Faith failure to Settle under a $10,000.00 Policy Limit:
We also find that the affidavit and deposition of Mark Lemke are insufficient to defeat summary judgment. “[S]tatements which are framed in terms only of conclusions of law are not sufficient to either raise a genuine issue of material fact or prove the non-existence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Progressive Express Ins. Co. v. Camillo,80 So.3d 394, 399 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012). Factual conclusions are also insufficient. See Buzzi v. Quality Serv. Station, Inc.,921 So.2d 14, 15 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006). In his affidavit, Lemke expressed his opinions that AVIC “did not adjust the underlying claim in good faith and breached the duty of good faith it owed its insured,” and that “[t]he claim should have immediately been recognized as one requiring tender of the $10,000 policy limits.” We consider these to be factual and legal conclusions. Lemke also opined that “[t]here were no ethical prohibitions that would have prevented [Grieser] from tendering a check.” This legal conclusion is refuted by Florida Administrative Code Rule 69B–220.201. To the extent Lemke's deposition raised other disputed issues of fact as to what AVIC should have done differently, they are not material because there is no evidence in this record from which a reasonable juror could infer that AVIC failed to act with due regard for Perkins's interests.
Goheagan, 2012 WL at *4.
Reported case results are otherwise when the Expert's Testimony relates to the entire Claim File, and to the complete history of how the claim was handled, rather than to whether there was "Good Faith" or "Bad Faith".
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