Arch Specialty Insurance Company v. BP Investment Partners, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedOctober 1, 2020
Docket6:18-cv-01149
StatusUnknown

This text of Arch Specialty Insurance Company v. BP Investment Partners, LLC (Arch Specialty Insurance Company v. BP Investment Partners, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arch Specialty Insurance Company v. BP Investment Partners, LLC, (M.D. Fla. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA ORLANDO DIVISION

ARCH SPECIALTY INSURANCE COMPANY,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No: 6:18-cv-1149-Orl-78DCI

BP INVESTMENT PARTNERS, LLC,

Defendant. / ORDER THIS CAUSE is before the Court on Plaintiff’s Daubert1 Motions. (Doc. Nos. 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147). Defendant opposes the Motions. (Doc. Nos. 151, 152). Plaintiff replied to the responses in opposition, (Doc. 165), and Defendant filed a Sur-Reply (Doc. 172). For the below reasons, the Motions will be granted in part. I. BACKGROUND FACTS The M Hotel at the center of this dispute was built in 1972 and originally operated as a Howard Johnson. (Doc. 164, ¶ 5).2 Micah D. Bass formed Defendant BP Investment Partners, LLC (“BPI”) to acquire and operate a hotel at 6603 International Drive, Orlando, Florida 32819, and BPI bought the M Hotel. (Id. ¶¶ 2–3, 5). Plaintiff Arch Specialty Insurance Company (“Arch”) issued BPI a commercial property insurance policy, Policy No. ESP 7303245-01 (Doc. 1-2).

1 Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993). 2 The M Hotel’s footprint includes three buildings with guestrooms, an office in the main lobby building, and a bar and restaurant. (Doc. 164, ¶ 5). The hotel also houses a swimming pool, pool deck, and exterior bar. (Doc. 1, ¶ 20; Doc. 223, ¶ 10). Hurricane Irma made landfall in Orlando on September 10 and 11, 2017, as a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of fifty to sixty miles per hour. (Doc. 101-3, ¶ 8; Doc. 163, ¶ 4). BPI subsequently filed a claim with Arch for nearly $8,000,000.00 in financial damages to the M Hotel arising from Hurricane Irma, including $803,775.40 that BPI claims it spent on temporary repairs. (Doc. 101-3, ¶ 8; Doc. 149-6, ¶ 6; Doc. 163,

¶ 30; Doc. 163-25). Arch alleges BPI submitted “a false and fraudulent insurance claim” for damages allegedly resulting from Hurricane Irma that instead arose from “(a) the intentional and fraudulent acts and omissions of [BPI] and others acting at [its] direction; (b) the prior and long-running neglect and mismanagement of the insured property, and (c) the ordinary wear and tear of the premises[.]” (Doc. 1, ¶ 1). This includes engaging “in an extensive and well-planned presentation to Arch of . . . claims that were intended to defraud Arch out of roughly $8 million of insurance proceeds.” (Id. ¶ 2). Because of BPI’s allegedly fraudulent conduct, Arch asserts a single count for declaratory judgment that the policy is void for fraud. (Id. ¶¶ 39–45).

On July 17, 2020, this Court denied BPI’s Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. 244). Now the Court will consider the six pending discovery and Daubert motions. Important to their resolution are these deadlines: BPI’s expert reports were due on July 26, 2019,3 and discovery closed on October 18, 2019. (Doc. 39 at 1; Doc. 74). The Motions pertain to BPI’s alleged “document dump” to a Dropbox link on July 26, 2019, which purportedly included seven expert reports. On August 2, 2019, BPI clarified that

3 Arch timely disclosed its six expert reports on June 3, 2019. (Doc. 39 at 1; Doc. 73, ¶ 12). On the day of BPI’s original expert disclosure deadline, BPI asked for an extension, which the Court granted until July 26, 2019. (Doc. 39 at 1; Doc. 73 at 1–5; Doc. 74). the Dropbox also contained Derek Schenavar’s curriculum vitae (“CV”). (Doc. 142-5 at 1). BPI’s counsel also e-mailed Arch to let it know that “[w]e anticipate receiving additional expert reports next week which we will furnish to you upon receipt of same.” (Id.). II. LEGAL STANDARD Parties should conduct discovery “with a spirit of cooperation and civility” and with

minimal judicial intervention. United Subcontractors, Inc. v. Darsey, No. 3:13-cv-603-J- 32MCR, 2014 WL 67649, at *1 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 8, 2014) (citation omitted). Disclosures of experts that have been “retained or specifically employed to provide expert testimony in the case” require a written report, prepared and signed by the witness, containing: (i) a complete statement of all opinions the witness will express and the basis and reasons for them;

(ii) the facts or data considered by the witness in forming them;

(iii) any exhibits that will be used to summarize or support them;

(iv) the witness’s qualifications, including a list of all publications authored in the previous 10 years;

(v) a list of all other cases in which, during the previous 4 years, the witness testified as an expert at trial or by deposition; and

(vi) a statement of the compensation to be paid for the study and testimony in the case.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(B). These disclosures must take place “at the times and in the sequence that the court orders.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(D). “If a party fails to provide information or identify a witness as required by Rule 26(a) . . . , the party is not allowed to use that information or witness to supply evidence . . . at a trial, unless the failure was substantially justified or is harmless. Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(c)(1). “Expert reports can be stricken if they offer conclusory opinions and do not contain some discussion of the expert’s reasoning and the thought process that led to the ultimate opinions.” Glowner v. Muller-Martini Mailroom Sys., Inc., No. 8:09-cv-01768-EAK-TGW, 2012 WL 276193, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 31, 2012) (alterations, citations, and internal quotations omitted). Although opinion testimony is generally inadmissible, Federal Rule of Evidence 702 permits “[a] witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience,

training, or education” to provide opinion testimony in limited circumstances. Expert opinion testimony is admissible if: (a) the expert’s scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue;

(b) the testimony is based on sufficient facts or data;

(c) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and

(d) the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case.

Fed. R. Evid. 702. The Eleventh Circuit has distilled the test for determining expert testimony admissibility into three basic inquiries—(1) is the expert qualified to testify competently; (2) is the expert’s methodology sufficiently reliable; and (3) will the testimony assist the trier of fact. City of Tuscaloosa v. Harcros Chems., Inc., 158 F.3d 548, 562 (11th Cir. 1998) (citations omitted). The Federal Rules of Evidence “assign to the trial judge the task of ensuring that an expert’s testimony both rests on a reliable foundation and is relevant to the task at hand.” Daubert, 509 U.S. at 597. The district court receives considerable leeway to execute its duty. Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 152 (1999). III. DISCUSSION Arch moves to strike and exclude the opinions of eight experts: One Call Construction Services, Inc. (“One Call”), Southeastern Capital of Orlando, Inc.

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Arch Specialty Insurance Company v. BP Investment Partners, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arch-specialty-insurance-company-v-bp-investment-partners-llc-flmd-2020.