The Second District Court of Appeals in Harper v. Geico Gen. Ins. Co., 2019 Fed. App. LEXIS 3211 (Fla. 2d Cir. Mar. 1, 2019) has essentially shorted the time an insurer can avoid a bad faith action. The Court held that the plain language of Florida’s bad faith statute, Section 624.155(3)(d) “states that no action shall lie if the damages are paid or corrective action is taken within sixty days after the insured files the CRN.” Here, “files” was interpreted by the Court to include the moment when a CRN is electronically filed and not printed, mailed and ultimately received by the insurer. In other words, once the CRN is filed by the insured, the sixty-day cure period begins to run. It is important to note that when the statute was originally enacted, the insured seeking to file a CRN would complete a paper form and mailed copies to both the Department of Financial Services and the insurance company.
The insurance company in Harper argued that it made payment to the insured person within the cure period, based on the date it actually received a physical copy of the CRN by mail. However, under the Court’s interpretation of the word “filed”, the insurance company made the payment sixty five days after the CRN was electronically filed, exposing itself to a bad faith action by the insured.
This case is a wake-up call to all insurers to be very mindful of the date the CRN is filed and to diary the 60-day cure period to take place from that date, not any other date. If you are interested in receiving a copy of this decision, please contact us at blog@miamimaritimelaw.co.