Progressive American Insurance Company v. Pedro Gonzalez

Summary

The Third District Court of Appeal of Florida reversed a $25 million final consent judgment in a first-party bad-faith action. The court held that, under the 2018 version of section 624.155, Florida Statutes, the insurer must receive 60 days’ written notice and an opportunity to cure before the action is filed, and filing a civil remedy notice with the Department or an insurer’s access to the Department’s website did not satisfy that requirement. The court also rejected imposing a duty on insurers to monitor the Department’s website for civil remedy notices.

Holdings

1. Section 624.155(3)(a), Florida Statutes (2018), requires that the authorized insurer be given 60 days' written notice of the alleged violation before a statutory first-party bad-faith action may be brought. Because Progressive was not given the notice before the action was filed, the statutory bad-faith action could not proceed.
2. Filing a civil remedy notice with the Department of Financial Services did not constitute giving notice to Progressive under the 2018 version of section 624.155 when Progressive did not otherwise receive the notice.
3. The 2018 version of section 624.155 did not require Progressive to monitor the Department's website and independently discover civil remedy notices.

Questions Presented

1. Whether section 624.155(3)(a), Florida Statutes (2018), required Progressive to receive 60 days' written notice of the alleged violation before Gonzalez could bring a statutory first-party bad-faith action.
2. Whether filing a civil remedy notice with the Department of Financial Services constituted notice to the insurer when the insurer did not actually receive the notice.
3. Whether an insurer was required to monitor the Department's website and discover civil remedy notices independently.
4. Whether the trial court erred in denying Progressive's motion for summary judgment and allowing the bad-faith action to proceed.

Disposition

reversed