Chalfonte decided - first-party bad faith is statutory only

There should be a gigantic sense of relief (and appropriately so) on the part of in-house counsel and executives of insurers doing business in Florida. Yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court resolved important questions regarding liability in first-party insurance cases, in the long-awaited QBE Insurance Corp. v. Chalfonte Condominum Apartment Assoc., No. SC09-441 (Fla., May 31, 2012).

The three key decisions of the Court are summarized below:

Danger lurks in retroactive laws

Although it has little in common with "radioactivity," "retroactivity" can be dangerous when an insurer implements new legislation based on the assumption that the courts will enforce a retroactive law as written.

Retroactivity is the subject of four recent Florida Supreme Court (FSC) decisions, including two issued within the last 30 days. No doubt these FSC cases will be explored and probed as Florida insurers and policyholder attorneys work their way through 2011's key legislation such as sinkhole insurance, crashworthiness, and medical malpractice.

Insurance Regulations Not Covered by Governor's Freeze, Yet

There are not many of them, but most insurance regulations pending approval are not covered by Governor Rick Scott's executive order that freezes rulemaking.  Still, these regulations could be put on hold by the Governor and Cabinet.