GEICO CASUALTY COMPANY, APPELLANT,
v.
CARMEN LOPEZ, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS HUSBAND AND WIFE AND NELSON LOPEZ, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS HUSBAND AND WIFE, APPELLEES

Fla. 4th DCA | 2008-08-06
No. 4D07-4368
KLEIN and DAMOORGIAN, JJ., concur.
988 So. 2d 162 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2008) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

GEICO appealed a trial court order compelling settlement of an underinsured motorist claim. The appellate court reversed, finding that the plaintiff failed to prove a meeting of the minds necessary for an enforceable settlement agreement.


Holding

There was no enforceable settlement agreement because plaintiff failed to demonstrate by competent substantial evidence that there was a meeting of the minds. The record showed no open offer from GEICO following the mediation impasse, and a mistaken voice mail message was insufficient to establish agreement.


Headnotes

[1] A settlement agreement requires a meeting of the minds on all essential terms, demonstrated by competent substantial evidence.

[2] An offer to settle is considered withdrawn when rejected by the offeree, absent evidence of a renewed offer.

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Key Quotes

“the plaintiff, Nelson Lopez, failed to demonstrate by competent substantial evidence that there was a meeting of the minds sufficient to create an enforceable settlement agreement”

The core holding establishing the essential requirement for settlement enforcement

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Facts & Procedural History

Nelson Lopez rejected multiple GEICO settlement offers for policy limits and failed to reach settlement at mediation. After the impasse, Lopez sent a …

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Opinion of the Court
TAYLOR, J.

TAYLOR, J.

We reverse the judgment entered upon the trial court’s order compelling a settlement in this case, because the plaintiff, Nelson Lopez, failed to demonstrate by competent substantial evidence that there was a meeting of the minds sufficient to create an enforceable settlement agreement.

After rejecting numerous offers from GEICO to settle his underinsured motorist claim for the policy limits and failing to reach a settlement at the mediation conference, plaintiff sent a letter to GEICO purportedly accepting its previous offer and demanding a settlement draft and release. GEICO rejected plaintiffs demand by letter, noting that its position had changed since discovering information that plaintiff had misrepresented his past medical history. Thereafter, plaintiffs counsel filed a motion to compel settlement. The trial court granted the motion.

As GEICO argues, the record does not show that there was ever an agreement reached between the parties to settle plaintiffs claims. No evidence was presented at the hearing on the motion to compel that there was an open offer from GEICO following the mediation impasse. On the contrary, the GEICO adjuster testified at her deposition that the offer was withdrawn after it was rejected and that there was no longer an offer on the table after mediation. Further, a voice mail message mistakenly sent from a GEICO employee to plaintiffs counsel regarding replacement of a stale settlement check was not sufficient to establish a meeting of the minds for settlement purposes.

Accordingly, we reverse the final judgment entered upon the order enforcing settlement and remand this matter for further proceedings.

Reversed and Remanded.

KLEIN and DAMOORGIAN, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Diana McLAUGHLIN, M.D. v. Adolfo Lara and Lydia Labra, 133 So. 3d 1004 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013)
    …l, it sometimes can be appealed. See Long Term Mgmt., Inc. v. Univ. Nursing Care Ctr., Inc., 704 So. 2d 669 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997). More commonly, the order enforcing settlement leads to a final judgment that is appealable. See Geico Cas. Co. v. Lopez, 988 So. 2d 162 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008). But this order enforcing settlement did not require Dr. McLaughlin to take any action or make any payment. She did not need to sign a release or stipulate to any dismissal. No final judgment was ever entered based on the order e…

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