MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, APPELLANT,
v.
JACQUELINE FARQUHAR MEYERS, ET AL., APPELLEES
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The court held that failure to serve process on the Department of Insurance, as required by statute, renders the County immune from suit.
Plaintiff brought a negligence action against the County. The County raised the lack of service of process on the Department of Insurance as an affirm…
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PER CURIAM.
The County appeals from a judgment entered pursuant to a jury verdict in a negligence action. For the following reasons, we reverse the order denying the County’s Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict and remand with directions for the trial court to enter final judgment in favor of the County.
Section 768.28(7) of the Florida Statutes provides that “[I]n actions brought pursuant to this section, process shall be served upon the head of the agency concerned and also ... upon the Department of Insurance .... ” (emphasis added). § 768.28(7), Fla. Stat. (1995). In this case, the plaintiff did not serve process upon the Department of Insurance. The County raised the lack of service of process as an affirmative defense; moved for a directed verdict; and moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The defense was therefore properly raised and preserved for review.
Because the plaintiff did not serve process on the Department of Insurance, the County was immune from suit, and the trial court erred in denying the County’s motion for a directed verdict. See Metropolitan Dade County v. Braude, 593 So. 2d 563, 564 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992) (holding that where County asserted defense of lack of service upon the Department of Insurance, the trial court erred in denying the County’s motion for a directed verdict). Because the lack of service of process is dispositive, we do not reach the other issues on appeal.
Reversed and remanded with directions to enter judgment for the County.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Metro. Dade Cnty. v. Lopez, 889 So. 2d 146 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004)…ty in accordance with the mandates of section 768.28.6 Because section 768.28(7) is part of this immunity scheme, it must be strictly construed. See Levine v. Dade County Sch. Bd., 442 So. 2d 210, 212 (Fla.1983). Thus in Miami-Dade County v. Meyers, 734 So. 2d 507, 508 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999), we applied this provision to mandate a directed verdict where, as here, the plaintiff had failed to serve process on the Department of Insurance and where this failure was asserted as a defense and appropriately raised in mo…
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Pub. Health Tr. OF Miami-Dade Cnty. v. Acanda, 23 So. 3d 1200 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009)…e but to grant directed verdict in favor of Miami-Dade County where failure to serve process on the Department was asserted as a defense and properly raised in a motion for directed verdict at close of plaintiffs case)8; Miami-Dade County v. Meyers, 734 So. 2d 507 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999) (reversing and remanding with directions to enter judgment for the County where the plaintiff had failed to comply with mandatory service of process requirement of section 768.28(7), which was raised as an affirmative defense and…1 / 2
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Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Manzini (Fla. 4th DCA 2023)…dismissal of suit because the plaintiff “failed to follow procedural pre-suit requirements and the suit is barred by sovereign immunity”); Metropolitan Dade County v. Lopez, 889 So. 2d 146, 148 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004) (same); Miami-Dade County v. Meyers, 734 So. 2d 507, 508 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999) (same); Metropolitan Dade County v. Braude, 593 So. 2d 563, 564 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992) (same). The respondent reported his initial claims of FDUTPA and FCRA violations to the Seminole Tribe in August 2021 and submitted the requi…
Authorities Cited
- Metro. Dade Cnty. v. Braude, 593 So. 2d 563 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)