Court Opinion

ID: 4564442
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2020-09-10 18:03:35.377228+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:58.979458
License: Public Domain

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                 STATE OF FLORIDA
                  _____________________________

                          No. 1D19-3013
                  _____________________________

CAROL ANN BELLAMY,

    Petitioner,

    v.

STATE FARM FLORIDA
INSURANCE COMPANY,

    Respondent.
                  _____________________________

Petition for Writ of Certiorari—Original Jurisdiction.
David W. Fina, Judge.

                        September 10, 2020

B.L. THOMAS, J.

     Bellamy’s petition for writ of certiorari must be dismissed
because it fails to demonstrate that the trial court departed from
the essential requirements of law, resulting in material injury that
cannot be corrected on appeal. See Reeves v. Fleetwood Homes of
Fla., Inc., 889 So. 2d 821, 822 (Fla. 2004). Under Florida law, once
an insured’s first-party action for insurance benefits is resolved in
the insured’s favor, a cause of action for bad faith can accrue.
Blanchard v. State Farm Mut. Ins. Co., 575 So. 2d 1289, 1291 (Fla.
1991); see also Vanguard Fire and Cas. Co. v. Golmon, 955 So. 2d
591, 594 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006).
     No irreparable harm occurred as a result of the trial court’s
subsequent order barring Bellamy’s bad faith claims as premature.
Bellamy is permitted to bring forth her bad faith claims once she
establishes that she is entitled to recovery of her insurance
benefits. As a result, the injury brought forth in Bellamy’s petition
can be corrected on appeal and we dismiss Bellamy’s petition for
writ of certiorari for lack of jurisdiction.

    DISMISSED.

WINOKUR and JAY, JJ., concur.

                  _____________________________

    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
               _____________________________

James P. Mason of the Law Office of James P. Mason, Rexford,
Montana; Frederick J. Schutte, IV, Live Oak, for Petitioner.

Reed W. Grimm of Taylor, Day, Grimm & Boyd, Jacksonville, for
Respondent.

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