Bad Faith Insurance Lawyer in Miami

Insurance companies are obligated to act in good faith when handling claims — toward their own insureds (first-party bad faith) and toward third parties making claims against their insureds within policy limits (third-party bad faith). When a carrier unreasonably denies, delays, or refuses to settle a clear case within policy limits, Florida law allows recovery of damages that often exceed the policy limits — including the full amount of any excess verdict, attorneys' fees, and pre-judgment interest. The Law Offices of Albert Goodwin litigates bad faith claims against auto, homeowners, commercial, and excess-line carriers.

Florida's Bad Faith Statute

Florida Statute § 624.155 codifies the right to sue an insurance carrier for bad faith. The statute applies to first-party claims (the insured's own claim for benefits owed under the policy) and to third-party claims that mature through an excess judgment or an assignment from the insured. The statute requires a specific procedural step before suit can be filed: service of a Civil Remedy Notice (CRN) on the carrier and on the Florida Department of Financial Services, with a 60-day cure period during which the carrier can resolve the claim without bad-faith exposure.

Third-Party Bad Faith — The Classic Case

The most common bad-faith scenario in Florida personal injury practice is the third-party "excess judgment" case:

A driver with a small auto policy (often $10,000 or $25,000 in bodily-injury limits) causes a serious crash with clear liability.
The injured claimant offers to settle for the full policy limits, with proof of damages well in excess of the limits.
The carrier delays, equivocates, attaches strings, fails to investigate, fails to communicate with its insured, or otherwise mishandles the claim.
The case goes to trial and a verdict comes in that vastly exceeds the policy limits — say, $1.5 million against a $25,000 policy.
The insured, exposed to the excess judgment, assigns their bad-faith claim to the injured claimant (often by a so-called "Cunningham agreement") in exchange for a covenant not to execute personally.
The claimant, now standing in the insured's shoes, sues the carrier for the full $1.5 million — and the policy limits no longer cap the carrier's exposure.

The seminal Florida case is Boston Old Colony Ins. Co. v. Gutierrez, 386 So. 2d 783 (Fla. 1980), which articulated the duties an insurer owes its insured: to investigate the facts, give fair consideration to a settlement offer that a reasonable person would accept, settle when a reasonable carrier would, advise the insured of settlement opportunities, advise of probable excess exposure, and act with diligence and care. State Farm v. Laforet, 658 So. 2d 55 (Fla. 1995), expanded on these duties.

First-Party Bad Faith

First-party bad faith applies when the carrier wrongfully denies or underpays benefits the insured is entitled to under the policy — UM/UIM claims, homeowners' claims, life and disability claims, and similar. Typical first-party bad-faith conduct includes:

Denying a clearly covered claim without reasonable investigation
Lowballing settlement offers far below the obvious value of the claim
Misrepresenting policy provisions or coverage
Failure to communicate timely with the insured
Requiring duplicative documentation or unnecessary examinations
Failure to provide a reasonable explanation of denial

A first-party bad-faith case in Florida generally cannot proceed until the underlying coverage dispute is resolved (the insured establishes the existence of liability and the extent of damages owed under the policy). After that, the CRN is served and, if not cured within 60 days, the bad-faith action ripens.

The Civil Remedy Notice (CRN)

The CRN must specifically identify the statutory violation, the policy language at issue, the facts giving rise to the violation, and what action would cure the violation. A defective CRN can be fatal to the entire bad-faith case. Florida courts strictly review CRNs to determine whether they put the carrier on adequate notice. Once filed with DFS, the CRN starts a 60-day clock — if the carrier pays the claim (or the policy limits) within that window, the cure is effective and bad faith is foreclosed.

Damages in a Successful Bad-Faith Case

If the carrier is found liable for bad faith, recoverable damages include:

The full amount of any excess judgment against the insured, no matter how large
Consequential damages flowing from the bad-faith conduct (interest on the judgment, credit damage, emotional distress in appropriate cases)
Attorneys' fees under § 627.428 / § 624.155
In appropriate cases, punitive damages

Common Bad-Faith Scenarios

Auto carrier refuses to tender minimum policy limits on a clear-liability serious-injury case
Homeowners' carrier denies a hurricane or fire claim despite obvious covered damage
UM/UIM carrier lowballs or denies a meritorious uninsured-motorist claim
Commercial general liability carrier fails to defend or settle within limits
Disability carrier wrongfully terminates benefits

HB 837 and the New Safe-Harbor Window

House Bill 837, signed in March 2023, was the most consequential overhaul of Florida bad-faith law in decades. Three points matter most for any bad-faith case arising from conduct after the March 24, 2023 effective date. First, "mere negligence" by the carrier is no longer enough to support a bad-faith claim — the statute now requires more than ordinary negligence. Second, the legislature created a safe-harbor: if the carrier tenders the lesser of the policy limits or the amount demanded within 90 days of receiving "actual notice" of a claim accompanied by sufficient evidence to support the amount, the carrier is shielded from a bad-faith action. Third, HB 837 expressly recognizes comparative bad faith — the jury can reduce a bad-faith award based on the conduct of the claimant, the claimant's attorney, or the insured in failing to act in good faith. Bad-faith demand letters drafted after March 2023 have to be built with the 90-day clock and the evidence-sufficiency requirement firmly in mind.

The Cunningham Mechanism

In a traditional third-party bad-faith case, the carrier defends by arguing the bad-faith claim is not ripe until the excess judgment is final and the insured has actually been damaged. The Florida Supreme Court in Cunningham v. Standard Guaranty Insurance Co., 630 So. 2d 179 (Fla. 1994), endorsed an agreement between insured, claimant, and carrier under which the parties try the bad-faith case first — by binding arbitration or otherwise — and only proceed with the underlying liability trial if the carrier loses the bad-faith claim. The Cunningham agreement avoids the time and expense of an excess verdict, and it allows the carrier a one-time opportunity to dispose of bad-faith exposure if it can prove its claim handling was reasonable. In practice, most carriers refuse Cunningham agreements and force the claimant to obtain a judgment first.

Building the Bad-Faith Record

Bad-faith cases are won or lost on the carrier's own claim file. Once liability is determined and the underlying coverage dispute resolved, the policyholder is entitled to a wide-ranging discovery of the claim file, internal communications, adjuster notes, reserve information, and supervisory review. Florida courts have generally rejected work-product and attorney-client claims over the claim file in first-party bad-faith litigation. A well-prepared case begins with a contemporaneous record built during the underlying claim: time-limited demand letters that comply with § 624.155(3) and the Cawthorn line of cases, complete proofs of loss, repeat written requests for status, and prompt responses to every carrier inquiry. Every voicemail, every email, and every "we'll get back to you" needs to be papered in real time, because two years later the claim notes will not say what the adjuster told you on the phone.

Evidence to Preserve

Every piece of correspondence with the carrier, in both directions
The original policy and all declarations pages, endorsements, and renewal notices
Time-limited demand letters and proofs of loss
Notes of every phone call with date, time, adjuster name, and substance
The Florida Traffic Crash Report (in auto cases) and medical records establishing damages clearly above limits
Any communications from the insured's defense counsel warning of excess exposure
Reserve information and claim notes obtained in post-judgment discovery

Common Defense Tactics

"The demand was a setup." Carriers argue the time-limited demand was deliberately structured to be impossible to meet. Florida case law rejects this defense when the demand was facially reasonable and gave the carrier enough time to investigate.
"We needed more information." Carriers defend by saying they could not evaluate the claim without additional medical records, an EUO, or an IME. The cure is to document every requested item and provide it promptly.
"There was a genuine coverage dispute." A reasonable coverage dispute can defeat bad faith. The plaintiff must show the carrier's position was not just wrong but unreasonable.
"The insured did not cooperate." Carriers blame the insured for failing to attend an EUO, sign authorizations, or sit for a sworn statement. Cooperation defenses can be defeated by showing the insured complied substantially with all reasonable requests.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a bad-faith case take?

Most first-party bad-faith cases take 18 to 36 months from CRN to resolution, and third-party excess-judgment cases can take longer because the underlying tort case has to be reduced to final judgment first.

Do I need a written demand letter to preserve a bad-faith claim?

Yes. In a third-party context, a properly structured time-limited demand within the policy limits, accompanied by sufficient evidence of liability and damages, is essential to setting up the carrier for bad faith if it does not pay.

What does it cost to bring a bad-faith case?

We handle bad-faith cases on a contingency-fee basis and advance all litigation costs. You pay nothing unless we recover.

Can I bring a bad-faith case if the carrier eventually paid the policy limits but only after a year of delay?

Possibly. Consequential damages from the delay itself — including interest, financial harm, and in some cases emotional distress — can support a statutory bad-faith claim even when the policy limits are eventually paid, particularly under pre-HB 837 conduct.

Bad faith litigation is technical, document-intensive, and slow — but the recovery in a successful case often dwarfs the underlying policy limits. If you have a case where the insurance carrier should have settled and did not, or where benefits owed under a policy have been wrongfully denied or delayed, contact the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin. Call 786-522-1411 or email [email protected] for a confidential evaluation.