COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CENTER, INC., ETC., PETITIONER,
v.
UNITED AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, RESPONDENT
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.
Comprehensive Health Center sought certiorari review of a circuit court appellate decision denying PIP benefits to its client for failure to attend independent medical examinations and challenging the denial of expert witness fees for treating physicians. The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that notice to counsel constitutes notice to the client and that treating physicians cannot charge expert witness fees.
The court held that notice to the attorney constitutes notice to the client, and therefore Telusnor's failure to attend the medical exams due to her attorney's failure to notify her was not a reasonable excuse. The court also held that treating physicians cannot charge expert witness fees because they acquire their knowledge through patient treatment, not in anticipation of litigation.
[1] A claimant's failure to attend a required medical examination is an unreasonable excuse for non-attendance when the claimant is represented by counsel and counsel receive…
[2] Notice to a claimant's attorney constitutes notice to the claimant.
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“In addition, notice to the attorney constitutes notice to the client. See Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.080(b). When a claimant is represented by counsel and counsel received valid notice via certified mail, it is not a reasonable excuse for nonattendance if counsel did not tell the claimant, just the same as would be an unexplained failure to attend.”
Establishes the core holding that attorney notification is constructive notice to the client and failure to communicate does not excuse non-compliance with medical exam requirements.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceComprehensive Health Center filed a PIP benefits claim on behalf of Erla Telusnor against United Automobile Insurance Company. Telusnor failed to appe…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Notice To Attorney cases and more on FLexlaw
Comprehensive Health Center, Inc. petitions this Court for a Writ of Certiorari. We deny the petition, in part because the appellate division of the circuit court did not depart from the essential requirements of the law when it held it to be unreasonable that claimant Erla Telusnor failed to attend Independent Medical Exam appointments because her lawyer did not tell her about the appointments. We likewise deny certiorari on the appellate division’s ruling regarding the law governing payment of expert witness fees.
Factual Background
On November 14, 2007, Comprehensive filed a complaint on Telusnor’s behalf seeking personal injury protection (PIP) benefits from United. United moved for summary judgment arguing that because Telusnor failed to appear for the required medical exam appointments, she could not receive benefits. Comprehensive filed a cross summary judgment motion, arguing that the insured did not “unreasonably refuse” to attend the examinations because she had no notice of the appointments, as her attorney never told her about them. The trial court agreed with Comprehensive and granted summary judgment in its favor.
United sought to take the depositions of two physicians, Dr. Rudolph Moise, D.O., and Dr. Daryl Schliefer, D.C. United objected to Comprehensive’s protective order asking the trial court to require payment of expert witness fees to these doctors. United argued that as treating doctors, Moise and Schleifer were fact witnesses entitled to no expert witness fees. The *43trial court disagreed and ordered United to pay $350 up front to each doctor before the depositions.
The appellate division of the circuit court found in favor of United, holding that Telusnor did not have a valid excuse for her non-attendance at the medical exams, when she was represented by counsel and counsel received valid notice.
The appellate division of the circuit court further found that treating physicians may not charge expert witness fees because they do not obtain their information for the purpose of litigation but rather in the course of treating their patients. The court thus declined to award expert witness fees.
Analysis
This petition falls under second-tier certiorari review. The scope of review is thus whether the circuit court denied the petitioner procedural due process or departed from the essential requirements of law to cause a miscarriage of justice. See Allstate Ins. Co. v. Kaklamanos, 843 So.2d 885 (Fla.2003).
a. Non-attendance at appointments
Both sides agree that Telusnor did not appear for the medical exam appointments because she said that she never received notice of them, and/or her attorney did not tell her about them. We conclude that Telusnor’s reason for her nonappearance at the medical exam appointments constituted an unreasonable basis to excuse her non-appearance.
First, notice of the medical exam was sent to Telusnor’s attorney through certified mail and to Telusnor through regular mail. Telusnor claims that she would have gone to the exams had she known about them.
Next we turn to the reasonableness of Telusnor’s excuse for her failure to appear. Reasonable versus unreasonable is at issue because of the language of section 627.736(7), Florida Statutes (2009), which states that if a person unreasonably refuses to submit to a medical exam, the PIP carrier is no longer liable for subsequent personal injury protection benefits. By using the term “unreasonably refuses to submit” in subsection 627.736(7)(b), it is logical to deduce there are scenarios where the insured “reasonably refuses to submit” to the examination. U.S. Sec. Ins. Co. v. Cimino, 754 So.2d 697 (Fla.2000). Our recent decision in United Automobile Insurance Co. v. Gaitan, 41 So.3d 268 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010), presents one of those scenarios.
In Gaitan, unlike here, there was a reasonable basis that excused non-attendance at a medical exam. This Court held in Gaitan that the circuit appellate court did not misapply the law when it remanded the issue of reasonableness of claimant’s refusal to attend the medical exam on the basis that the claimant had never been treated by a chiropractor. Id. at 268. Te-lusnor’s basis for her non-attendance is entirely different.
Second, Telusnors lack of a valid basis for non-attendance entitled United to the entry of summary judgment in its favor. We have stated that the circuit appellate court does not depart from the essential requirements of law in finding that a medical exam is a condition precedent to a suit for PIP benefits. See Custer Med. Ctr. v. United Auto. Ins. Co., — So.3d-,-(Fla.2010). Furthermore, when the claimant fails to comply without a reasonable excuse, the insurer is entitled to summary judgment if there is no genuine issue of material fact as to the reasons for non-attendance. Tindall v. Allstate Ins. Co., 472 So.2d 1291, 1293 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). In addition, notice to the attorney constitutes notice to the client. *44 See Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.080(b). When a claimant is represented by counsel and counsel received valid notice via certified mail, it is not a reasonable excuse for nonattendance if counsel did not tell the claimant, just the same as would be an unexplained failure to attend.
b. Expert Witness Fee
The issue before the circuit court was whether Dr. Moise and Dr. Schliefer were fact or expert witnesses. The circuit court relied on Frantz v. Golebiewski, 407 So.2d 288, 285 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), and reversed the county court’s order which ordered United to pay $350 to each doctor, in advance, because the witnesses had acquired their knowledge “in anticipation of litigation or for trial.” The circuit court correctly decided to apply Frantz. Under the recent Supreme Court decision in Custer, we should only grant second tier review when the lower tribunal has violated a clearly established principle of law resulting in a miscarriage of justice. Even if we believed that the circuit court was erroneous in its conclusion as applied to the facts, we should decline to exercise jurisdiction. See Haines City Cmty. Dev. v. Heggs, 658 So.2d 523, 525 (Fla.1995) (“A decision made according to the form of law and the rules prescribed for rendering it, although it may be erroneous in its' conclusion as to what the law is as applied to facts, is not an illegal or irregular act or proceeding remediable by certiorari.”) (quoting Basnet v. City of Jacksonville, 18 Fla. 523, 526-27 (1882)).
We therefore deny certiorari from the decision of the appellate division of the circuit court.
Petition for Writ of Certiorari denied.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
United Auto. Ins. Co. v. Comprehensive Health Ctr., 173 So. 3d 1061 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015)…be entitled to recover its appellate attorney’s fees. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY This is the second time this case has been before this Court on petition for writ of certiorari. See Comprehensive Health Ctr., Inc. v. United Auto. Ins. Co., 56 So. 3d 41 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010), review denied, 67 So. 3d 1049 (Fla.2011) (circuit court opinion at United Auto. Ins. Co. v. Comprehensive Health Ctr., Inc., 16 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1143a (Fla. 11th Cir.Ct. Oct. 21, 2009)) (“Comprehensive I”). The underlying fa…
-
Comprehensive Health Ctr., LLC v. United Auto. Ins. Co., 99 So. 3d 525 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011)…ysician. Assuming, arguendo, that this contention has any merit, this Court denied certiorari in United Automobile Insurance Co. v. Garrido, 53 So. 3d 235 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011) (table). See also Comprehensive Health Ctr., Inc. v. United Auto. Ins. Co., 56 So. 3d 41, 44 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010) (denying petition for certiorari to review appellate division reversal of order directing United to pay physicians’ expert witness fees). We, therefore, hold that the failure to grant Comprehensive’s motion for appellate attor…
-
Health & Wellness Evolution Co. v. Infinity Auto Ins. Co., 345 So. 3d 952 (Fla. 3d DCA 2024)…admission under the business records exception. Accordingly, whether the letters provided Esperon with adequate notice evolved into a factual question properly resolved by the jury. See Comprehensive Health Ctr., Inc. v. United Auto. Ins. Co., 56 So. 3d 41, 43 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010) (“[N]otice to the attorney constitutes notice to the client.”); see also Gracia v. Sec. First Ins. Co., 347 So. 3d 479, 482 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022) (“[C]redibility determinations and weighing the evidence are jury functions . .…
Previewing 3 of 9 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Haines City Cmty. Dev. v. Leila Heggs, 658 So. 2d 523 (Fla. 1995)
- Allstate Ins. Co. v. Keely Kaklamanos, 843 So. 2d 885 (Fla. 2003)
- Basnet v. The City of Jacksonville, 18 Fla. 523 (Fla. 1882)
- Tindall v. Allstate Ins. Co., 472 So. 2d 1291 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985)
- U.S. Sec. Ins. Co. v. Jeanni M. Cimino, 754 So. 2d 697 (Fla. 2000)
- Harvey Weiner, M.D. v. Savage, 407 So. 2d 288 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981)
- United Auto. Ins. Co. v. Nohemi Gaitan, 41 So. 3d 268 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010)