Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Concourse Plaza A Condominium Association, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedOctober 8, 2024
Docket1:21-cv-21873
StatusUnknown

This text of Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Concourse Plaza A Condominium Association, Inc. (Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Concourse Plaza A Condominium Association, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Concourse Plaza A Condominium Association, Inc., (S.D. Fla. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

Case No. 21-cv-21873-BLOOM/Elfenbein

GREAT LAKES INSURANCE SE,

Petitioner/Counter-Defendant Great Lakes,

v.

CONCOURSE PLAZA, A CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC.

Respondent/Counter-Plaintiff. ________________________________________/

ORDER ON MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION

THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon Petitioner/Counter-Defendant Great Lakes Insurance SE’s (“Great Lakes”) Motion for Reconsideration of Order following Mandate (“Motion”), ECF No. [71]. The Respondent/Counter-Defendant, Concourse Plaza, A Condominium Association, Inc. (“Concourse Plaza”) filed a Response in Opposition (“Response”), ECF No. [74]. Great Lakes filed a Reply, ECF No. [77]. The Court has reviewed the Motion, the supporting and opposing submissions, the record, and is otherwise fully advised. For the reasons that follow, the Motion is denied. I. BACKGROUND This is an insurance coverage dispute concerning losses caused by Hurricane Irma on September 10, 2017. Great Lakes initiated this proceeding on May 19, 2021, with the filing of its Petition for Declaratory Relief, ECF No. [1]. Therein, Great Lakes sought a declaration that Concourse Plaza failed to comply with Fla. Stat. § 627.70132, barring Concourse Plaza’s claim for losses stemming from Hurricane Irma. Id. at 5. In its Motion for Summary Judgment, Concourse Plaza sought a declaratory judgment that it complied with the three-year limitations period set forth in Fla. Stat. § 627.70132, a finding that Great Lakes was in breach of contract, and an Order referring the parties to binding appraisal. ECF No. [35] at 17-18. Great Lakes filed its Motion for Summary Judgment, seeking a declaration that Concourse Plaza’s claim for Hurricane Irma damages was barred by Fla. Stat. § 627.70132. ECF No. [38] at 15. This Court granted summary judgment for Great Lakes, and Concourse Plaza appealed. ECF Nos. [55], [57]. During the pendency of the appeal, Patios West One Condominium Association, Inc. v. American Coastal Insurance Co., 388 So.3d 893 (Fla. 3d DCA 2024) was decided. The Eleventh Circuit determined that Patios applied. See Great Lakes Ins. SE v. Concourse Plaza A Condo. Ass’n, 22-13141-HH, at 5 (11th Cir. 2024) (citing Bravo v. United States, 532 F.3d 1154, 1164 (11th Cir. 2008)). The Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded this

Court’s Order on Summary Judgment in favor of Great Lakes. On Remand, this Court issued its Order Following Mandate (“Order”) and ordered the parties “to submit to binding appraisal on the amount of loss at issue.” ECF No. [67]. Thereafter, Great Lakes filed its Motion for Reconsideration, seeking reconsideration and clarification of the Order, noting that Patios is currently being appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.1 ECF No. [71] at 1. Great Lakes does not argue against submitting to appraisal, but argues that “before commencing the appraisal process, the Court should define the scope of the appraisal and require that any award be stated consistent with the contours of the policy and applicable law.” ECF No. [71] at 1-2. Great Lakes seeks an amended order “(1) defining the scope of the appraisal;

1 The Supreme Court of Florida accepted jurisdiction of Patios on August 20, 2024. American Ins. Co. v. Patios West One Condo. Ass’n, SC2024-0160, 2024 WL 3880025 (2024). and (2) requiring the appraisal award form delineate between replacement cost value (“RCV”), actual cash value (“ACV”), ordinance or law, debris removal, and other benefit figures, coverages, and repairs.” Id. at 2. Great Lakes files its Motion seeking reconsideration of the Order pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b). Id. at 3. Concourse Plaza responds that Great Lakes’ Motion is actually a request to improperly take over the appraisal process and does not meet the pleading standard for reconsideration because there is no change in controlling law, no new evidence presented to affect the outcome, nor error to correct or show manifest injustice in the Order. ECF No. [74] at 4. Great Lakes replies that it is asking this Court “to direct the appraisal panel . . . to consider questions of causation . . . consistent with the contours of the policy and applicable law.” ECF No. [77] at 2. Great Lakes further contends that its request for a detailed line-item appraisal is appropriate and may be helpful should an issue arise during the appraisal process that may be

brought before this Court for resolution later. Id. at 3. II. LEGAL STANDARD A. Motion for Reconsideration The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 54(b) provides in pertinent part that “any order or other decision, however designated, that adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties . . . may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims and all the parties’ rights and liabilities.” “In the Eleventh Circuit, courts employ the same standards for evaluating Rule 54(b) motions for reconsideration as they do for considering Rule 60(b) motions for relief from judgment.” Jeld-Wen, Inc. v. Nebula Glasslam Int’l, Inc., No. 07-22326-CIV-Dimitrouleas, 2008 WL 11333262, at *3 (S.D. Fla. Apr. 29, 2008) (citing Maldonado v. Snead, 168 Fed. App’x 373, 386-87 (11th Cir. 2006)). A motion for reconsideration is “an extraordinary remedy to be employed sparingly.” Burger King Corp. v. Ashland Equities, Inc., 181 F. Supp. 2d 1366, 1370 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 8, 2002). “The burden is upon the movant to establish the extraordinary circumstances supporting reconsideration.” Saint Croix Club of Naples, Inc. v. QBE Ins. Corp., No. 07-cv-00468-JLQ, 2009 WL 10670066, at *1 (M.D. Fla. June 15, 2009) (citing Taylor Woodrow Constr. Corp. v. Sarasota/Manatee Airport Auth., 814 F. Supp. 1072, 1073 (M.D. Fla. 1993)). A motion for reconsideration must do two things. First, it must demonstrate some reason why the court should reconsider its prior decision. Second, it must set forth facts or law of a strongly convincing nature to induce the court to reverse its prior decision. Courts have distilled three major grounds justifying reconsideration: (1) an intervening change in controlling law; (2) the availability of new evidence; and (3) the need to correct clear error or manifest injustice. Cover v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 148 F.R.D. 294, 295 (M.D. Fla. 1993) (citations omitted). “Such problems rarely arise and the motion to reconsider should be equally rare.” Burger King Corp., 181 F. Supp. 2d at 1369. Because court opinions “are not intended as mere first drafts, subject to revision and reconsideration at a litigant’s pleasure,” a motion for reconsideration must clearly “set forth facts or law of a strongly convincing nature to demonstrate to the Court the reason to reverse its prior decision.” Am. Ass’n of People with Disabilities v. Hood, 278 F. Supp. 2d 1337, 1339, 1340 (M.D. Fla. July 25, 2003) (citations omitted). As such, a court will not reconsider its prior ruling without a showing of “clear and obvious error where the ‘interests of justice’ demand correction.” Bhogaita v. Altamonte Heights Condo. Ass’n, Inc., No.

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Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Concourse Plaza A Condominium Association, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-lakes-insurance-se-v-concourse-plaza-a-condominium-association-inc-flsd-2024.