Various Florida statutes require court approval of wrongful death settlements and settlements involving minors (if the amounts received in the aggregate exceed $15,000; See Section 744.301(2), Florida Statutes (2017)). Does this mean that settlements in these situations cannot be negotiated to resolution by the parties without first obtaining court approval? The answer is…
Florida’s experience with crafting workers’ compensation legislation is a case study in the danger of accepting without challenge the statements of insurance industry lobbyists. One after the other during Florida’s last legislative session (March – May, 2017), insurance industry lobbyists stood before committees of elected officials and made baseless comments for the simple purpose of increasing insurance company profits, without…
Making a first party insurance claim is not always the only or even the best option available to a person or corporation whose property has been damaged by wind or rain. (A first party claim is made by a policy holder to his or her own insurance company. These claims are…
Wikipedia defines a functional capacity evaluation (FCE) as “a set of tests, practices and observations that are combined to determine the ability of the evaluated person to function in a variety of circumstances, most often employment, in an objective manner. Physicians change diagnoses based on FCEs.” I, for one, consider FCEs junk science. At…
Every property damage insurance policy issued in Florida requires the insured to provide the insurance company (or, in some instances, the procuring policy agent) with timely notice of a loss. The notice requirement enables the insurer to conduct a timely and adequate investigation of all circumstances surrounding an accident. Bankers Insurance Company v. Macias,…
Most homeowner and commercial residential insurance policies obligate policyholders to participate in a potentially expensive and time-consuming adversarial appraisal procedure before litigation. Here’s an example, from Allstate Insurance Company v. Suarez, 833 So. 2d 762 (Fla. 2002), of a typical contractual appraisal provision: Appraisal. If you and we fail to…
From: Jeff Gale [mailto:jgale@jeffgalelaw.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2017 9:15 PM To: ‘bradley.rob@flsenate.gov’ Subject: Senate Bill 1582 (Workers’ Compensation) Dear Senator Bradley: I have been representing injured workers since 1990. As Florida’s 1st DCA wisely noted in 1985, in language adopted by the Florida Supreme Court in Castellanos v. Next…
Even when an insurance company is willing to pay fair market value on a wrecked or damaged vehicle, it sometimes makes more sense to repair rather than have it declared a total loss. This can be the case when it is not practical to purchase another vehicle with the amount of money payable under the total loss calculation. Florida motor vehicle…
Our firm represented a gentleman who sustained life-threatening injuries after being struck by an SUV while standing next to his incapacitated truck on the side of Interstate 95 in Broward County, Florida. (See blog photo.) The accident happened in broad daylight during rush hour traffic. Following a tire blowout, our client had pulled his semi-tractor trailer rig into…
Countless times we have prepared witnesses to give sworn testimony. At the very outset we go over the basic rules: 1. Listen carefully to each question and make it is fully understood before answering; 2. Only answer the question asked. If that can be done with a simple yes or no, answer…