Fifth District Court: PIP Insurers Not Required To Release Records To Insureds Pre-Suit

In a unanimous opinion this week, the Fifth District Court of Appeals has held that Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) insurers are not required to release their PIP logs to an insured or his/her assignee. 

A copy of the opinion is attached for your review.

The decision in Geico v. Florida Emergency Physicians, 2007 WL 4458173 (Fla. 5th DCA December 21, 1007) relied on the 3rd District Court of Appeal’s earlier decision this past May in the case of Southern Group Indemnity v. Humanitary Health Care, Inc., 2007 WL 1542019 (Fla. 3d DCA May 30, 2007), which determined that the PIP statute neither requires nor addresses “the insured’s right to access documents prepared internally by the insurer” pre-suit. 

The case of Progressive American Insurance Company, et. al., v. Rural Metro Corporation of Florida, Case No: 5D07-1176 involves the same central issue and is still pending before the Fifth District.

The Florida Property and Casualty Association has filed an amicus brief in the Progressive case; however, the case has not been fully briefed with Progressive’s reply brief due in January.

Should you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact this office.