On May 25, 2022, in Koung, et al. v. Giordano, et al. No. 1D20-724, the Florida First DCA reversed a trial court determination that there was no enforceable settlement agreement between an insurance company and a plaintiff who was injured in a crash with the insurance company’s insured, the defendant in the lawsuit. State Farm had sent the plaintiff a check for the policy limits after receiving a demand to settle the case from the plaintiff’s attorney. However, the plaintiff claimed that this did not constitute a binding acceptance of a proposed agreement, because the demand letter from the plaintiff also requested “complete compliance” with the insurance disclosure provisions of Fla. Stat. § 627.4137. The insurance company was allegedly noncompliant because the claims manager failed to submit the insurance disclosure “under oath” as required by § 627.4137. The First DCA concluded that because the claims manager’s disclosure stated that it was submitted “under penalties of perjury”, another Florida Statute, § 95.525, which generally governs verification of documents, qualified the statement as a statement under oath. Fla. Stat. § 92.525 provides that documents required by law to be “verified” by a person may be verified by the taking of an oath by an authorized officer or by the signing of a written declaration that “[u]nder penalties of perjury, I declare that I have read the foregoing [document] and that the facts stated in it are true.”
