Court Limits Plaintiff’s Medical Expenses in Personal Injury Case in Miami-Dade County, FL

CSK Defense Team
Orlando Partner Stephanie McCoy
Miami Associate Manuel Rodriguez

Case Summary
This personal injury case in Miami-Dade County involved a Plaintiff who claimed medical expenses after an incident. Although the Plaintiff had health insurance, most of her treatment was provided under Letters of Protection (LOPs)—agreements to pay medical providers from any future settlement. Only her initial hospital bill was submitted to insurance. The LOPs were signed before the lawsuit but weren’t shared until after the deadline for exchanging evidence. The Plaintiff also didn’t provide information about what her insurance would have paid for the treatment and insisted that the law didn’t require her to share that with the defense.

Defense Strategy
The CSK Defense Team argued that the Plaintiff didn’t follow Florida’s legal requirements for claiming medical expenses. Because of this, they said she shouldn’t be allowed to present bills from providers who treated her under LOPs. Since Florida’s new tort reform law hasn’t yet been interpreted by higher courts, the defense asked the judge to consider the lawmakers’ intent, how the law is written, and basic fairness in deciding the issue.

The Verdict
The court agreed with the Defendant’s arguments and granted the motion to limit evidence of the Plaintiff’s past and future medical expenses. As a result, the Plaintiff’s boardable medical expenses were reduced from over $176,000 to less than 0.5%, which is the amount actually paid by insurance for the initial hospital visit. This case highlights the importance of following Florida’s new tort reform laws: Defendants can challenge inflated medical bills if Plaintiffs do not provide the required disclosures and evidence of what insurance would have paid.