In Wadsworth, the Fourth District Court of Appeal confirmed that the pre-suit requirements of section 627.70152, Florida Statutes, apply to all lawsuits filed on or after July 1, 2021, over arguments by the plaintiff that the statute could not retroactively apply to existing insurance policies.
In the underlying suit, the defendant insurer moved to dismiss the insureds’ lawsuit for failure to comply with section 627.70152, which after July 1, 2021, requires insureds to satisfy various requirements before bringing suit. The insureds argued that the statute could not apply to their suit, even though their suit was filed after the statute’s effective date. The circuit court agreed with the insurer that the statute’s plain language requires application of the pre-suit procedure to all suits arising under a property insurance policy on or after the statute’s effective date.
On appeal, the Florida Justice Reform Institute filed an amicus brief in support of the appellee insurer, arguing that the plain language of the statute requires the result reached by the circuit court and that the result furthers the Legislature’s intent to encourage pre-suit resolution of claims and reduce insurance litigation.
The Fourth District per curiam affirmed the circuit court order dismissing the complaint without a written opinion but cited Cole v. Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Co., 363 So. 3d 1089 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023), in which the appellate court had previously held that section 627.70152 could be retroactively applied.
The Florida Justice Reform Institute was represented by William W. Large and Kara Rockenbach Link and Daniel M. Schwarz of Link & Rockenbach, PA.