... Again.
Joining a cascade of cases, Florida's Third District Court of Appeal issued an opinion in a Hurricane Wilma case that contains twin holdings of great interest for First-Party Bad Faith Policyholders, lawyers, and Courts, in Download State Farm Florida Insurance Co. v. Puig (Fla. 3d DCA Case No. 3D10.2104, Opinion Filed March 23, 2011)(PUBLIC ACCESS, STATED NOT FINAL), also published as 2011 WL 1008266 (Fla. 3d DCA Opinion Filed March 23, 2011)(authorized password required to access Westlaw). The appellate panel unanimously quashed those parts of a Trial Court's Order that (1) essentially ignored the requirements of Work Product and (2) refused to entertain any Attorney Client Privilege objections, at all, in a First-Party Bad Faith Case.
Therein lies a tale from Florida's Third District.
First, the Trial Court's Order was quashed concerning production of State Farm's Claims File prepared after an underlying Insurance Coverage proceeding concluded:
Notably, over State Farm's assertions of work product protection, the trial court's order compelled the production of documents prepared subsequent to February 25, 2008, after the underlying litigation over the [Policyholders'] claim had concluded.
State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. v. Puig, 2011 WL 1008266 at *1. The Trial Court erred, said the Appellate Court, because although Work Product immunity can be overcome even as to post-Coverage resolution in a First-Party case, the Trial Court did not require and the Policyholders did not meet their burden to make the required showing to actually defeat Work Product immunity. State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. v. Puig, 2011 WL 1008266 at *2.
Second, the tale that lies therein. The Third District panel in this case also quashed the Trial Court's Order to the extent that the Trial Court refused to consider Attorney-Client Privilege objections to production of the "entire" State Farm Claims File in this First-Party Bad Faith Case. State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. v. Puig, 2011 WL 1008266 at *2-*3. In making this ruling, the panel rejected an invitation from the Policyholders on appeal to "revive" a 1987 Third District holding which barred Insurance Companies from ever successfully asserting Attorney-Client Privilege in Bad Faith Cases. State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. v. Puig, 2011 WL 1008266 at *3 n.2. Instead, the 2011 Third District panel held:
The instant petition [for certiorari] must be granted in large part because the essential requirements of law provide that the attorney-client privilege exists and is available to an insurer that is faced with a bad faith claim.
State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. v. Puig, 2011 WL 1008266 at *3.
What a difference a day makes, the old song says. What a difference 24 years make, this new decision says.
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