Manuel Lastra v. Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: April 15, 2026
• Docket: 3D2025-0257
• Status: Published

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed April 15, 2026. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

________________

No. 3D25-0257 Lower Tribunal No. 22-3394-CA-01 ________________

Manuel Lastra, et al., Appellants,

vs.

Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Appellee.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Mavel Ruiz, Judge.

Alvarez, Feltman, Da Silva & Costa, P.L., and Paul B. Feltman, for appellants.

Hicks, Porter & Stein, P.A., and Dinah S. Stein and Lindsey A. Hicks, for appellee.

Before SCALES, C.J., and LINDSEY, and GOODEN, JJ.

PER CURIAM. Appellants, Plaintiffs below, Manuel and Aida Lastra, filed a claim for

damage to their home allegedly caused by Hurricane Irma. Their insurer,

Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Company (“Universal”), moved

to dismiss the complaint for failure to comply with the pre-suit provisions of

section 627.70152(3)(a), Florida Statutes (2025). Bound by this Court’s

decision in Cantens v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London, 388 So. 3d

242 (Fla. 3d DCA 2024), we hold that the trial court committed no reversible

error in dismissing Manuel and Aida Lastra’s claim under the statute. 1

Affirmed.

1 Hughes v. Universal Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., 374 So. 3d 900, 910 (Fla. 6th DCA 2023), review granted, No. SC24-0025, 2024 WL 1714497 (Fla. Apr. 22, 2024), a case addressing the statute at issue herein, but reaching a different result from Cantens, is pending before the Florida Supreme Court.