Landers v. State Farm, 5D15-4032

In 2009 Landers’ home suffered suspected sinkhole damage; State Farm hired SDII, which concluded grout injections (no underpinning) were sufficient; a neutral evaluator largely agreed.
Landers’ engineer (Reinhart) recommended underpinning; State Farm invoked the policy appraisal clause to resolve the dispute over amount of loss; Landers allowed SDII repairs to proceed and appraisal was held in abeyance until stabilization was complete.
Repairs completed in Sept. 2011, but damage continued; Landers hired a geotechnical engineer and filed a civil remedy notice (CRN) in Jan. 2012 alleging statutory bad-faith (delay, inadequate investigation, failure to tender limits) and demanding policy limits.
State Farm reasserted appraisal; it compelled appraisal in separate litigation, which this Court affirmed; in July 2014 the appraisal panel found loss exceeded policy limits and State Farm tendered policy limits in Aug. 2014.
Landers sued for statutory bad faith under §624.155; State Farm moved for summary judgment arguing the CRN was invalid because appraisal (a contractual condition precedent to payment) was not complete when the CRN was filed; the trial court granted summary judgment and Landers appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether an insured must wait until appraisal is complete before filing a §624.155 CRN	Landers: CRN may be filed while appraisal is outstanding; statute doesn’t require a prior determination of liability or damages	State Farm: CRN filed before appraisal is void because amount owed wasn’t finally determined; appraisal is a contract condition precedent to payment	Court: Reversed summary judgment. Statute permits filing CRN before appraisal completes; insurer must cure within 60 days if possible
Whether filing a CRN before appraisal renders bad-faith claim legally premature/ripe	Landers: CRN can be filed; ripeness for suit occurs once appraisal later completes if CRN was previously served	State Farm: Bad-faith claim not ripe until coverage and damages finally determined via appraisal	Court: Filing CRN earlier does not nullify it; the prerequisites for suit are met once appraisal concludes and insurer failed to cure within 60 days

Vest v. Travelers Ins. Co., 753 So. 2d 1270 (Fla. 2000) (no statutory bar to filing a CRN before liability or damages are determined)
Talat Enters., Inc. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 753 So. 2d 1278 (Fla. 2000) (CRN gives insurer a 60-day window to cure; absence of cure before window expires can support a bad-faith claim)
Cammarata v. State Farm Fla. Ins. Co., 152 So. 3d 606 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014) (appraisal award satisfies prerequisites for bringing a bad-faith action)
Trafalgar at Greenacres, Ltd. v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co., 100 So. 3d 1155 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012) (appraisal can constitute a favorable resolution sufficient for bad-faith prerequisites)
State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. LaForet, 658 So. 2d 55 (Fla. 1995) (bad-faith claims are fact-intensive and typically not resolved as a matter of law)