Opinion
No. 4D2022-2475
01-31-2024
UNITED AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. ISO-DIAGNOSTICS TESTING, INC. a/a/o Gerardo Gonzalez, Appellee.
Appeal from the County Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Kathleen McHugh, Judge; L.T. Case No. COCE21-29607.
Lissette Gonzalez and Francesca M. Stein of Cole, Scott & Rissane, P.A., Miami, for appellant.
Mac S. Phillips of Phillips | Tadros, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellee.
Per Curiam.
Appellant, United Automobile Insurance Company, appeals a judgment in favor of a medical provider, ISO-Diagnostics Testing, Inc. ("ISO"), for PIP benefits. The trial court ruled in ISO’s favor on its claim that, pursuant to the policy, United owed additional PIP payments because United had improperly paid ISO based on the 2017 Medicare Schedule of Payments, rather than the higher 2018 schedule. We have recently decided this exact issue involving a United PIP policy with the similar relevant policy language against the same provider in United Automobile Insurance Co. vs. ISO-Diagnostics Testing, Inc., a/a/o Suryma Pineiro Morales, No. 4D2022-1735, 377 So. 3d 153 (Fla. 4th DCA Jan. 10, 2024). We reversed the judgment for ISO and held that "under the plain meaning of the policy and the statute, whether pre- or post-amendment [of the statute], the definition of a ‘year’ meant a service year governing the payout at issue." Id. at 156.
Based upon our prior opinion, we also reverse the final judgment for ISO in this case and remand for entry of judgment for United.
Reversed.
Warner, Ciklin and Kuntz, JJ., concur.