NU Online News Service, Dec. 15, 3:43 p.m. EST

Industry trade associations have joined together in filing a "friend of the court" brief with the Florida Supreme Court in support of United Automobile Insurance Company's request for a rehearing in a case involving personal injury protection automobile coverage.

An opinion from the state's highest court earlier this year has dire consequences, the industry groups contended. The opinion is "likely to raise automobile insurance premiums, diminish benefits, place more uninsured drivers on our roads, generate a substantial increase in litigation, force PIP carriers out of Florida and may ultimately result in the breakdown of the PIP system in Florida," according to the brief filed by the Florida Property & Casualty Association, Florida Insurance Council, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, National Insurance Crime Bureau and others.

The opinion went "way beyond" what was asked of it, according to Maria Abate of Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky and Abate, who made the filing on behalf of the groups.

The court was to rule on the use of an independent medical examination (IME) in verifying a PIP claim, but it also included a footnote stating that an examination under oath (EUO)--a kind of deposition also used to verify a claim--is impermissible.

"This severely restricts carriers' ability to investigate fraudulent claims and is contrary to established legal principles," the filing states. "A tsunami of litigation challenging every imaginable aspect of PIP policies is certain to flow as a result of the court's statements [in the footnote]."

The state Supreme Court also said that a policyholder's failure to show up for an IME is not grounds to withhold payment, which was the central issue of the case: Custer Medical Center vs. United Automobile Insurance Company. The case history dates back to 2002 from a county court when a policyholder sued because United refused to pay once he skipped an IME.

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Industry: Fla. High Court PIP Ruling To Create &#039;Tsunami Of Litigation&#039;

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