CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE CORP., APPELLANT,
v.
RAFAELA SOSA, APPELLEE
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Citizens Property Insurance Corporation appealed a trial court order denying its motion to dismiss and striking bad faith allegations, and abating certain counts pending coverage determination. The appellate court dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, holding that the order was non-final and non-appealable.
The order is a non-final, non-appealable order. An order abating an action pending disposition of another action is not reviewable, and the trial court's order does not constitute an appealable determination that Citizens lacks sovereign immunity as a matter of law, because the order does not explicitly state that conclusion and the trial court did not rule on the sovereign immunity issue.
[1] An order abating or staying an action pending disposition of another action is not a reviewable non-final order.
[2] An order denying a motion to dismiss based on sovereign immunity is not appealable under Rule 9.130(a)(3)(C)(xi) unless the order specifically states that, as a matter of…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“An order abating or staying an action pending disposition of another action is not a reviewable non-final order.”
Establishes the foundational principle that abatement orders are non-appealable
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceSosa filed a complaint against Citizens Property Insurance Corporation that included bad faith allegations in Counts II and III. Citizens moved to str…
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*91 ON MOTION TO DISMISS
Appellee, Rafaela Sosa (“Sosa”), moves to dismiss the appeal of a non-final order denying Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s (“Citizens”) motion to strike certain bad faith allegations and dismiss and/or strike Count II and Count III of Sosa’s complaint. The trial court’s order abates Count II and Count III of Sosa’s complaint until coverage or extent of liability are determined. Because the order appealed is a non-final, non-appealable order, we grant the motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
The order on appeal denies Citizens’ motion to dismiss and abates consideration of Counts II and III of Sosa’s complaint until a determination of coverage is made. It is well-established that “[a]n order abating or staying an action pending disposition of another action is not a reviewable non-final order.” Pecora v. Signature Gardens, Ltd., 25 So.3d 599, 599 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009). See also Hedin v. Indian River Cty., 610 So.2d 715 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992).
Citizens nonetheless argues that the order is appealable pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130(a)(3)(C)(xi), which provides for appeal of non-final orders that determine “that, as a matter of law, a party is not entitled to sovereign immunity.” Citizens’ assertion, characterizing the trial court’s order as one determining that it is not entitled to sovereign immunity as a matter of law, however, is not supported by the record. Significantly, the order on appeal does not state that the motion to dismiss is denied on the basis that Citizens lacks sovereign immunity. Instead, the order merely states that Counts II and III of Sosa’s complaint are abated “until coverage or extent of liability are determined.” Furthermore, a review of the transcript of the hearing on the motion to dismiss also shows that the trial court did not reach or rule on the issue of sovereign immunity. Cf. Amcon Builders, Inc. v. Pardo, 120 So.3d 1254, 1255 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013) (finding order denying summary judgment on a claim of workers’ compensation immunity not appealable “ ‘unless the trial court order specifically states that, as a matter of law, such a defense is not available to a party’ ” (quoting Reeves v. Fleetwood Homes of Fla., Inc., 889 So.2d 812, 821-22 (Fla.2004))). Here, the trial court’s order fails to state that, as a matter of law, sovereign immunity is not available to Citizens. As such, the trial court’s order is not appealable pursuant to Rule 9.130(a)(3)(C)(xi).
Because the order denying Citizens’ motion to dismiss is not reviewable under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130 as a non-final order, we grant Sosa’s motion to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Dismissed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Cited By
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Miami-Dade Cnty. v. Pozos, 242 So. 3d 1152 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017)…o cases in footnote 2 in support of its position that this Court lacks jurisdiction to review the order denying the County's motion for summary judgment on the basis of sovereign immunity. The first case is Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. Sosa, 215 So. 3d 90, 2016 WL 6992583 (Fla. 3d DCA Nov. 30, 2016). Sosa, however, is distinguishable. First, the order appealed in Sosa was an order denying Citizen's motion to strike or dismiss Counts II and III of the complaint, not from an order denying a motion for…1 / 2
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Citizens Prop. Ins. Corp. v. Calonge, 246 So. 3d 447 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)…t penetrate the record with a searchlight to divine whether the trial court's undisclosed rationale warrants appellate review. Miami-Dade Cty. v. Pozos, 242 So. 3d 1152, 2017 WL 621233 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb. 15, 2017) ; Citizens Prop. Ins. Corp. v. Sosa, 215 So. 3d 90 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016). A. This Court's Jurisprudence In Pozos, the plaintiff claimed that the County was liable for personal injuries suffered after plaintiff was shot at a County park. The County filed a summary judgment motion asserting sovereign i…1 / 2
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Miami-Dade Cnty. v. Pozos, 242 So. 3d 540 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Reeves v. Fleetwood Homes OF Fla., Inc., 889 So. 2d 812 (Fla. 2004)
- Pecora v. Signature Gardens, Ltd., 25 So. 3d 599 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009)
- Hedin v. Indian River Cnty., 610 So. 2d 715 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992)
- Aleman v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 120 So. 3d 1254 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013)
- Amcon Builders, Inc. v. Pardo, 120 So. 3d 1254 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013)