The Florida Insurance Law Blog
By Jeffrey T. Donner, Esq.
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The determination of when the statute of limitations begins to run is usually a jury question. A lot of lawyers–and some judges–seem to be confused, thinking that a statute of limitations defense is something that usually should be decided on a motion to dismiss or summary judgment. That is rarely the case, because when the…
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In Saunders v. Dickens, 151 So. 3d 434 (Fla. 2014), a medical malpractice case, the Florida Supreme Court clarified the burden of proof in negligence actions. The facts of the case were these: Saunders and his wife filed a failure to diagnose action, which included a loss of consortium claim against Dr. Pasarin; Broward Neurosurgeons,…
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In Roessler v. Novak, 858 So. 2d 1158 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003), the Second District confronted a medical malpractice case that provided the opportunity to clarify the law of apparent agency. Klaus Roessler appealed a summary final judgment entered in favor of Sarasota County Public Hospital d/b/a Sarasota Memorial Hospital (Sarasota Memorial). The appellate court…
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I have been representing insureds in first-party property insurance cases for over seven years. During that time, I have successfully won or settled approximately 415 cases, recovering almost $18 million for my clients. Close to 80 of these cases were against Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company. One thing that has bugged me over the…
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The Fourth District recently reminded us that the standard for entering a JNOV is high. A JNOV (judgment notwithstanding the verdict—”judgment non obstante veredicto,” in Latin) can be entered if the judge concludes the jury got it so wrong that it must be overruled. In our system of justice, the jury is given tremendous respect.…
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There are many things that frustrate me as a lawyer representing insureds in first-party property insurance litigation. One of them is repeatedly encountering defense counsel who do not understand–or pretend to not understand–that a public adjuster is a hybrid (“non-retained”) fact/expert witness, analogous to a treating physician. Defense lawyers who represent large, powerful corporations–they have…
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Update: There have been some last-minute changes to the changes (as of December 6, 2024) since I published this article September 2, 2024: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/florida-supreme-court-revises-civil-case-management-reforms-before-january-1-implementation/. The remainder of this article is as I published it on September 2 (I have not had time to edit it): Several significant changes are coming to the Florida Rules of…
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You need a real trial lawyer representing you if you’re going to go to trial. You need one who is not only fearless, but well versed in the law. The law governing trials—the evidence and argument that is allowed—is extremely complicated. For example, there are a lot of conflicting appellate opinions on the issue of…
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Florida law permits lawyers quite a bit of latitude to argue aggressively. American lawyers are taught that we use “the adversarial system,” meaning that each side is to make its best argument, as zealously as possible, and the result will be that truth and justice is found. Lawyers, however, cannot make arguments that do not…
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Trial courts have discretion to impose sanctions for discovery violations, but that discretion has limits. The case of Griefer v. DiPietro, 708 So. 2d 666 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998) includes a nice analysis of the law. In Griefer, the Fourth District held that the trial court abused its discretion in completely excluding the testimony of…
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