Maryland Casualty Co. v. Alicia Diagnostic, Inc.

Petitioner, Maryland Casualty Company, seeks certiorari review of the trial court’s order denying its motion to dismiss. Maryland Casualty argues that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law by allowing Respondents, the plaintiffs below, to concurrently pursue a first party breach of insurance contract claim and a bad faith claim against Maryland Casualty. We agree and quash the order on review.

Under Florida law, it is inappropriate to litigate a bad faith claim against an insurer until after any underlying coverage dispute is resolved. This is premised on the notion…