Under the Florida Bad Faith Statute in first-party cases -- which is the only source of a bad-faith claim or cause of action in a first-party case in Florida -- there must first be a determination of the carrier's liability and of the insured's damages, among other things. An appraisal award of the difference between Replacement Value and Actual Cash Value did not determine the carrier's liability, so it was held to be a legally insufficient springboard for the statutory first-party bad faith claim in Ricol Holdings, LLC v. Westchester Surplus Lines Ins. Co., ___ F. Supp. 3d ___, No. 3:23cv12248-TKW-ZCB, 2023 WL 4948005, at *3-*4 (N.D. Fla. July 26, 2023).
Please read the disclaimer. ©2023 Dennis J. Wall. All rights reserved. Express statutory causes of action in first-party bad faith cases, including under Florida law, are discussed at length in 2 DENNIS J. WALL, LITIGATION AND PREVENTION OF INSURER BAD FAITH § 9:14 (3d Edition West Publishing Co., 2023 Supplements). Far from being overlooked or forgotten, third-party cases are discussed in multiple sections in Volume 1, id., including Statutory Bases of Liability for Bad Faith in claims involving Settlement, § 3:28, in claims involving Refusal to Defend, § 3:63, and in claims involving the Conduct of the Defense, § 3:92.
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