GEICO ruled against by Florida Supreme Court

Florida Supreme Court Rules Against Auto Insurer in PIP Dispute Involving Examinations Under Oath
By Kim Driggers, FCA Asst. General Counsel

Last week, a divided Florida Supreme Court in Merly Nunez v. Geico General Ins. Co., ruled that under the prior, pre-1/1/2012 PIP law, Geico could not require its insured to give a statement under oath ("EUO") as a requirement before paying PIP benefits after an auto accident. The 5-2 ruling found that Florida's PIP laws requiring "swift and virtually automatic" recovery of benefits did not allow the insurer to place such a requirement on the insured. The Court reasoned that since PIP is a mandatory insurance, and since the EUO requirement was not in the pre-2012 PIP law, that Geico could not make its requirements more strict under the terms of its policy of insurance.