RAYMOND DIAZ AND SUREY DIAZ, PETITIONERS,
v.
FLORIDA PENINSULA INSURANCE COMPANY, RESPONDENT

Fla. 4th DCA | 2016-06-01
No. 4D15-3283
CIKLIN, C.J., CONNER and FORST, JJ., concur.
204 So. 3d 460 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2016) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 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

Homeowners Raymond and Surey Diaz challenged a trial court order abating their breach of contract and declaratory judgment action against their insurer Florida Peninsula Insurance Company (FPIC) over a disputed right-to-repair clause. The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal granted the petition for certiorari, finding the abatement order departed from essential requirements of law because it effectively disposed of the complaint without allowing the homeowners to obtain a determination on the validity of FPIC's exercise of its repair rights.


Holding

The trial court departed from essential requirements of law in abating the action because the abatement effectively disposed of the complaint without allowing the homeowners to obtain judicial determination of whether FPIC properly exercised the right-to-repair clause and the parties' resulting rights and obligations. Additionally, homeowners are entitled to dispute the scope of repairs before repairs are completed.


Headnotes

[1] Certiorari jurisdiction lies to review an order of abatement that departs from the essential requirements of law and causes material injury that cannot be corrected on po…

[2] An order abating a homeowner's insurance breach of contract action against an insurer, which effectively precludes the homeowner from obtaining a determination of the par…

Previewing 2 of 4 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

Key Quotes

“the trial court's abatement order in this case departs from the essential requirements of law because it effectively disposes of Diaz's complaint”

Establishes that abatement was improper as it functioned as a dismissal without allowing the homeowners their day in court on the merits

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Diaz held a homeowner's insurance policy with FPIC that gave FPIC a right to repair damaged property rather than pay cash. After an air conditioning l…

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.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Petitioners Raymond and Surey Diaz (collectively “Diaz”) seek certiorari review1 of an order abating their action against Florida Peninsula Insurance Company (“FPIC”) for breach of contract and declaratory judgment. We find that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law in granting an abatement under the circumstances of this case. We therefore grant Diaz’s petition, quash the abatement order, and remand for further proceedings.

Diaz had a homeowner’s insurance policy through FPIC, which provided FPIC with a right to repair damaged property rather than make a cash payment. The Diaz home was damaged as the result of a leak in the air conditioning system, so Diaz filed a claim with FPIC. FPIC determined that the loss was covered and notified Diaz of its intent to exercise its right to repair. FPIC provided Diaz with its contractor’s proposed scope of repairs and requested that Diaz sign a work authorization for FPIC’s contractor to commence repairs. Diaz hired a public adjuster, who disputed the scope of repairs proposed by FPIC’s contractor. In response, FPIC denied Diaz’s claim2 because Diaz failed to sign its contractor’s work authorization.

*462After FPIC denied the claim, Diaz initiated the underlying action. Diaz’s amended complaint alleges that FPIC breached the policy agreement by refusing to repair all of the damage caused by the leak and by ultimately denying Diaz’s claim. Diaz also seeks a declaratory judgment as to whether FPIC properly exercised the right to repair clause, and, if so, what the parties’ rights and obligations are under that clause. Rather than answering the amended complaint, FPIC filed a motion to abate the action and compel Diaz to comply with its right to repair. The trial court granted FPIC’s motion and entered an order abating Diaz’s action.

Certiorari jurisdiction lies to review an order of abatement. See Robinson v. Fla. Peninsula Ins. Co., 178 So.3d 947, 948 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015). “[T]o obtain a writ of certiorari, there must exist ‘(1) a departure from the essential requirements of the law, (2) resulting in material injury for the remainder of the case (3) that cannot be corrected on postjudgment appeal.’” Reeves v. Fleetwood Homes of Fla., Inc., 889 So.2d 812, 822 (Fla.2004) (quoting Bd. of Regents v. Snyder, 826 So.2d 382, 387 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002)).

In Robinson, this Court determined, under similar circumstances, that the trial court’s abatement of a homeowner’s action against FPIC departed from the essential requirements of the law because it amounted to a dismissal. Robinson, 178 So.3d at 948.

Similar to Robinson, the trial court’s abatement order in this case departs from the essential requirements of law because it effectively disposes of Diaz’s complaint. Abatement under these circumstances completely precludes Diaz from obtaining a determination as to whether FPIC properly exercised the right to repair clause and, if so, what the parties’ rights and obligations are under that clause.

Furthermore, with respect to the disputed scope of repairs, a homeowner is entitled to dispute the scope of repairs before the repairs are completed. See Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. Cannon Ranch Partners, Inc., 162 So.3d 140, 143 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014) (holding that dispute over scope of repairs is subject to appraisal because it falls under “amount of loss” rather than “coverage”).

Under the circumstances of this case, we conclude that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law in abating Diaz’s action. We therefore grant the petition, quash the abatement order, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Petition for writ of certiorari granted; order quashed; remanded.

CIKLIN, C.J., CONNER and FORST, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • People's Tr. Ins. Co. v. First Call 24/7, 46 Fla. L. Weekly D2651 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022)
    …r that the endorsement is otherwise invalid, and that People’s Trust breached the insurance contract.” Id. at *6 (quoting People’s Tr. Ins. Co. v. Santos, 320 So. 3d 910, 918 (Fla. 3d DCA 2021)); see also, e.g., Diaz v. Fla. Peninsula Ins. Co., 204 So. 3d 460, 462 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016); Robinson v. Fla. Peninsula Ins. Co., 178 So. 3d 947, 948 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015). Regarding the argument that post-loss duty number 5 entitled First Call to what People’s Trust would have paid its preferred contractor f…
  • People's Tr. Ins. Co. v. First Call 24/7, 46 Fla. L. Weekly D2651 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022)
    …ir or that the endorsement is otherwise invalid, and that People’s Trust breached the insurance contract.” Id. at *6 (quoting People’s Tr. Ins. Co. v. Santos, 320 So. 3d 910, 918 (Fla. 3d DCA 2021)); see also, e.g., Diaz v. Fla. Peninsula Ins. Co., 204 So. 3d 460, 462 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016); Robinson v. Fla. Peninsula Ins. Co., 178 So. 3d 947, 948 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015). Regarding the argument that post-loss duty number 5 entitled First Call to what People’s Trust would have paid its preferred contractor for rep…
  • People's Tr. Ins. Co. v. Santos (Fla. 3d DCA 2021)

Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw