In a First-Party Bad Faith Case in Florida, a Federal Court was confronted with a Plaintiff's-Policyholder's First Motion in Limine to Limit Evidence at Trial to the Relevant Time Period.
The case is Alexander v. GEICO, 2012 WL 5382051 (M.D. Fla. November 1, 2012). The Plaintiff, Randolph Alexander, was caught in an automobile accident involving four vehicles in 2005. He made a claim for Coverage under his GEICO Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Policy. It has limits of $50,000/$100,000. Mr. Alexander filed suit against GEICO for his "UM benefits" in 2007. Alexander v. GEICO, 2012 WL 5382051 *1 (M.D. Fla. November 1, 2012).
After he filed his UM benefits lawsuit, Mr. Alexander filed two Civil Remedy Notices of Insurer Violation ("CRNs") outlining GEICO's failure to pay, in essence. The first CRN was filed in 2008, and the second in 2009.
Thereafter, Mr. Alexander obtained a verdict, apparently in the UM case against GEICO, and apparently for the damages caused to him by the other parties in the automobile accident. The verdict amount was entered into a Judgment after the amount was reduced by setoffs to $212,356.95.
The District Judge did not reveal when Mr. Alexander's Bad Faith Claim or Claims was or were alleged in a lawsuit, but his Florida First-Party Bad Faith Claims could only have been alleged under Florida Statute Sections 627.727(10), Florida's UM Statute, and 624.155, Florida's Bad-Faith Statute. Following the Verdict and Judgment, "Alexander seeks to collect the balance of the verdict from GEICO based upon its alleged bad faith failure to settle within the $50,000 policy limits." Alexander v. GEICO, 2012 WL 5382051 *1 (M.D. Fla. November 1, 2012). Parenthetically, the Federal Court did not explain whether or in what way GEICO had a duty in the first place to settle Mr. Alexander's claims, if any, against the other parties involved in the four-vehicle automobile accident.
Instead, this decision revolves around only Mr. Alexander's First Motion in Limine to Evidence at Trial to the Relevant Time Period. In that motion, Mr. Alexander asserted that the relevant time period for any and all evidence on the Bad Faith Claims ended when the time period for responding to his second CRN ended. His argument ran to the effect that his filing of a CRN is a condition precedent to First-Party Bad Faith Claims like his and, that being so, "the improper conduct alleged must necessarily pre-date the expiration of the CRN." Alexander v. GEICO, 2012 WL 5382051 *1 (M.D. Fla. November 1, 2012).
The Federal Judge decided this open question of Florida law in favor of the Plaintiff-Policyholder in this case. The Court appears to have observed that Mr. Alexander's Bad Faith Claims are based at least in part on the Florida Bad-Faith Statute, and although there is no other authority on the issue, in the Court's opinion the structure of the Statute required the Court to grant Mr. Alexander's motion:
[S]ection 624.155(3)(b) requires the CRN to “state [ ] with specificity ... the facts and circumstances giving rise to the violation,” which leads to the logical conclusion that the conduct constituting the alleged bad faith must have occurred prior to the plaintiff filing the CRN.
Although the parties have not cited Florida case law directly on point—and the Court is unable to locate any—this conclusion also appears in alignment with related Florida bad faith case law.
* * *
Thus, evidence of GEICO's actions taken after the expiration of the second CRN is not relevant to the issue of bad faith and will not be admissible at trial.
Alexander v. GEICO, 2012 WL 5382051 *3 (M.D. Fla. November 1, 2012).
Not content to rest on this decision which "the Court believes ... to be legally correct," the Federal Court also noted in a footnote "that the facts appear to be that GEICO was on notice of the pertinent facts well before the expiration of the second CRN." Alexander v. GEICO, 2012 WL 5382051 *3 & n.1 (M.D. Fla. November 1, 2012). [Emphasis added.]
Well, that takes care of that, probably.
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