Opinion
2:21-cv-138-SPC-MRM
09-29-2021
TURNBERRY WOODS AT THE STRAND CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC, Plaintiff, v. EMPIRE INDEMNITY INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant.
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SHERI POLSTER CHAPPELL, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
Before the Court is Plaintiff Turnberry Woods at the Strand Condominium Association, Inc.'s Motion to Stay and Compel Appraisal (Doc. 16), along with Defendant Empire Indemnity Insurance Company's opposition (Doc. 22). In opposing the motion, Defendant asks the Court not to compel appraisal and require the parties to mediate first per the terms of the insurance policy. (Doc. 16-1 at 38).
Since the parties have filed their briefs, however, they attended mediation and reached an impasse. (Doc. 26). As such, Defendant's only reason to oppose appraisal is moot. And Defendant has done nothing in the month since mediation to try to further oppose appraisal. So, having reviewed the parties' papers, record, and applicable law, it will exercise its discretion to compel appraisal. See generally Waterford Condo. Ass'n of Collier Cnty., Inc. v. Empire Indem. Ins., No. 2:19-CV-81-SPC-NPM, 2019 WL 4861196, at *1 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 2, 2019) (adopting the majority view among Florida courts that gives trial courts discretion over the relative timing of appraisal and coverage determinations); State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Middleton, 648 So.2d 1200, 1201-02 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1995) (noting “the general, even overwhelming, preference in Florida for the resolution of conflicts through extra-judicial means, especially [appraisal], for which the parties have themselves contracted”). The Court thus grants Plaintiff's motion. Accordingly, it is now
ORDERED:
1. Plaintiff Turnberry Woods at the Strand Condominium Association, Inc.'s Motion to Stay and Compel Appraisal (Doc. 16) is GRANTED.
2. This case is STAYED pending appraisal, and the Clerk must add a stay flag to the file.
3. The parties are DIRECTED to file a joint report on the status of appraisal on or before December 28, 2021, and every ninety days thereafter until appraisal has ended.
4. Within seven days of appraisal ending, the parties are DIRECTED to jointly notify the Court of (a) what issues, if any, remain for the Court to resolve; (b) whether the stay needs to be lifted; and (c) how this action should proceed, if at all.
DONE and ORDERED.