After leaving Florida's Bad Faith Statute alone in 2022, the Florida Legislature attacked it with a vengeance in 2023.
The Florida Legislature apparently introduced different concepts of third-party insurance bad faith in 2023. The effective date of amendments to Florida's Bad Faith Statute, Section 624.155, is unclear as a general matter, but it is probable that a court of competent jurisdiction will hold, or a new constitutionally permissible revision will be enacted by the Florida Legislature to provide, that the effective date of these amendments to Section 624.155 is March 24, 2023.[1]
The special conditions attached to Section 624.155 by the 2023 Florida Legislature include conditions which affect the exposure of liability insurance companies to damages for bad faith.[2] In basic terms, no "action for bad faith involving a liability insurance claim," including an action at common law, will lie against a liability insurer if the insurer tenders the lesser of (1) its policy limits or (2) "the amount demanded by the claimant" within a specified 90-day period.[3] The specified 90-day period for this immunity from liability for bad faith raises questions.
To be continued ....
[1] The session law in which this new provision was enacted is 2023 Fla. Sess. Law Serv. Ch. 2023-15, § 4 (C.S.C.S.H.B. 837) (West). This session law has two savings clauses which seem potentially pertinent here. One addresses rights under an insurance contract, which seems perhaps most pertinent here, id. § 29 (savings clause as to "right[s] under an insurance contract," stated not to be construed to "impair" any such rights in effect on or before March 24, 2023, the effective date of this act and the date this act became a law; act stated applicable respecting such rights "under an insurance contract … issued or renewed after the effective date of this act."). A second savings clause addresses the filing date of "causes of action," providing in full that "[e]xcept as otherwise expressly provided in this act, this act shall apply to causes of action filed after the effective date of this act." Id. § 30. Absent constitutional adjustment by the Florida Legislature, courts, counsel and clients in future cases will have to address these issues, which are open at the time of this writing.
[2] Fla. Stat. Ann. § 624.155(4)(a) (West; Westlaw current with laws, joint and concurrent resolutions and memorials through April 18, 2023, in effect from the 2023 Special B Session and the 2023 first regular session), enacted by 2023 Fla. Sess. Law Serv. Ch. 2023-15, § 4 (C.S.C.S.H.B. 837 (West).
[3] Section 624.155(4)(a).
The changes made by the Florida Legislature in 2023 to Insurer Bad Faith Laws are discussed in 1 DENNIS J. WALL, LITIGATION AND PREVENTION OF INSURER BAD FAITH § 3:28 Legal Bases of Liability in Settlement -- Statutory (West Publishing Company 3d Edition, 2023 Supplements in process).
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