The Florida Supreme Court’s decision in QBE Insurance Corp. v. Chalfonte Condominium Apartment Assoc., Inc. is not — contrary to insurance industry speculation — the death knell for insurance bad-faith claims in Florida.

Rather, it simply reiterates that Florida law imposes on insurers doing business in this state certain statutory obligations of good faith and fair dealing and provides a private right of action to consumers harmed by an insurer’s violation of those obligations. The court acknowledged “that the statutory remedy in section 624.155 ‘essentially extended the duty of an insurer to act in good faith and deal fairly in those instances where an insured seeks first-party coverage or benefits under a policy of insurance.’ ” Florida consumers who understand how to perfect bad-faith claims under Florida’s Civil Remedies Statute, section 624.155 (the “bad-faith statute”), and incorporated provisions of Florida’s Unfair Insurance Trade Practices Act, should not be concerned about the court’s refusal to create a first-party common law cause of action for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in insurance contracts. The common law cause of action, recognized in other contexts, relates to the performance of an express term of a contract and protects the parties’ reasonable expectations.

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