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Professional Liability

Legal Updates for Florida Coverage and Property Litigation

“All Suits” Means All Suits: Second DCA Requires Pre-Suit Notice for Non-Monetary Property Insurance Claims

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation v. Hamid Nekouee No. 2D2025-2866, 51 Fla. L. Weekly D1659a. (Fla. 2nd DCA August 14, 2026)

October 5, 2026

by Carolin A. Pacheco

The Second District Court of Appeals rendered an opinion finding that a cause of action must be dismissed without prejudice for failure to provide the statutorily required pre-suit notice (Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation), including actions concerning declaratory relief where no monetary damages are being claimed.

Citizens petitioned for certiorari review of a trial court order denying its motion to dismiss the homeowner’s declaratory judgment action. Citizens argued dismissal was required because the homeowner failed to provide pre-suit notice through the Florida Department of Financial Services as mandated by section 627.70152, Florida Statutes. The pre-suit notice is a condition precedent which applies to residential or commercial property insurance policies per Section 627.70152. The trial court denied Citizen’s motion, concluding that pre-suit notice was not required because the homeowner was not seeking monetary damages and there was uncertainty concerning whether a coverage dispute existed.

Citizens provided coverage for the homeowner’s property including hurricane loss. After alleged hurricane damage to the insured property, Citizens determined coverage for the loss fell below the policy deductible and denied the claim. The homeowner disagreed, their adjuster finding the loss exceeded the applicable deductible. The homeowner demanded appraisal under the policy. The respective party’s appraisers agreed on a loss amount, but the homeowner refused to sign the Appraisal Award form, objecting to its language as imposing extracontractual conditions. Rejecting the appraisal award, the homeowner filed a declaratory judgment action seeking judicial determination of the form's enforceability and their rights under the policy, without seeking monetary damages.

On appeal, the homeowner raised issues concerning whether section 627.70152, Florida Statutes, requires pre-suit notice for declaratory judgment actions arising under residential property insurance policies when the plaintiff seeks no monetary damages. The Second District granted the petition and quashed the trial court's order.

The Second District Court held that section 627.70152 requires pre-suit notice for all suits arising under residential property insurance policies, including declaratory judgment actions that do not seek monetary relief. The court was particularly stressed that the phrase 'all suits' means all suits without exception. Applying principles of statutory interpretation, emphasizing that general terms like 'all' must be given their general meaning (Ham v. Portfolio Recovery Assocs., 308 So. 3d 942, 946 (Fla. 2020), quoting Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts 56 (2012)). "Consequently, we `strive to determine the text's objective meaning through "the application of [the] text to given facts on the basis of how a reasonable reader, fully competent in the language, would have understood the text at the time it was issued" (Levy v. Levy, 326 So. 3d 678, 681 (Fla. 2021), quoting Scalia & Garner, supra, at 33).

In making its decision, the Second District Court rejected the homeowners’ reliance on Bristol West Insurance v. MD Readers ,Inc., 52 So. 3d 48, 51 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010), noting that case involved a different statute requiring pre-suit notice before filing 'any action for benefits,' not the broader language of section 627.70152. The court also rejected the homeowner’s argument that their suit did not 'arise under' the policy, finding that resolution required interpretation of policy terms, making it clearly arise under the insurance contract.

The Second District Court granted Citizen’s Petition and the trial court order was quashed. The homeowners failed to provide the necessary notice and thus the case must be dismissed without prejudice.

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The Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently reinforced a critical limitation on bad faith claims, holding that a timely filing alone will not preserve a cause of action absent a good-faith effort to serve the original process. The plaintiff had presented a claim for underinsured motorist benefits to his auto insurer. The insurer evaluated the claim and determined that the plaintiff’s accident-related damages did not exceed the bodily injury liability insurance limits of the at-fault driver and denied his claim. Among other claims, the plaintiff sought to present a claim for insurance bad faith under 42 Pa. C.S.A. § 8371, to which a two year statute of limitation applies. He first filed a praecipe for writ of summons before the expiration of the statute of limitation. However, the plaintiff did not attempt to serve the praecipe or writ until after the statute of limitations had expired. Additionally, the service failed as the plaintiff had mailed the original process to an incorrect address. Despite receipt of the Postal Service’s failure to deliver the original process, the plaintiff did not attempt to re-serve the writ. Two months later, the plaintiff filed a complaint and then successfully served that complaint. The insurer sought to dismiss the plaintiff’s bad faith claim as time-barred by the statute of limitations. The district court agreed. Though the plaintiff had filed a praecipe for a writ of summons prior to the expiration of the statute of limitations, the statute is only tolled if there is a good faith effort to serve that original process. In this case, the court determined that the plaintiff had failed to perform a “good faith effort to serve the original process”. Additionally, though the filing and service of a complaint can serve as alternative original process when the lawsuit is commenced by the filing of a praecipe for a writ of summons, the plaintiff filed his complaint after the statute of limitations had expired. The plaintiff’s bad faith claim was therefore determined to be barred by the statute of limitations and dismissed by the court, with prejudice. A key takeaway for the defense is not to assume that the statute of limitations has been successfully tolled by a plaintiff merely because a praecipe for a writ of summons or complaint has been filed prior to the expiration of the statute. A filed complaint or writ is only part of the equation. The defense should carefully review the docket and filings to confirm that the plaintiff also performed the requisite good faith effort to serve that original process. A thorough review of the docket may reveal that the plaintiff failed to make the good-faith service efforts necessary to toll the statute of limitations.

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In a decision that resolves years of appellate uncertainty and confirms that insurers and insureds alike can rely on the legal framework in place when a policy is issued, the Supreme Court of Florida last week found that Florida Statute §627.70152, which involves an insured’s requirement to provide an insurer with pre-suit notice before filing a suit, cannot be applied retroactively. In Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company v. Hughes, the Court was presented with the issue of whether the statutory pre-suit notice requirement applied retroactively and whether it would apply to a breach of contract of an insurance policy that was issued before the statute went into effect. Before the Court was an appeal from a homeowner, Ms. Hughes, who sued her insurance carrier, Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company (Universal) for breach of contract under an insurance policy that was in effect from April 24, 2019 through April 24, 2020. During the policy period, Ms. Hughes suffered a loss and, on May 29, 2019, made a claim for water damage. The carrier investigated the loss and issued payment; Ms. Hughes disputed the payment, finding the amount insufficient for repairs. On July 1, 2021, Florida Statute §627.70152 went into effect, which required insureds to provide notice of intent to initiate litigation against the carrier prior to filing a lawsuit; if an insured filed the lawsuit without complying with §627.70152, a court must dismiss the case without prejudice. On August 4, 2021, Ms. Hughes filed her lawsuit against Universal for breach of contract. Universal moved to dismiss based on her failure to comply with §627.70152. Ms. Hughes contended the notice requirement could not be applied retroactively. The trial court disagreed and dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, and Ms. Hughes appealed. During the appeal, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, in Cole v. Universal Property & Casualty, 363 So. 3d 1089 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023), ruled that Florida Statute §627.70152 did apply retroactively to policies issued before the effective date of §627.70152. However, the Sixth District Court agreed with Ms. Hughes and overturned the trial court’s ruling, finding the statute could not retroactively apply to policies issued prior to the statute effective date. Thereafter, the other district courts weighed in, with the Third District Court agreeing with the Fourth District Court, and the First, Second and Fifth District Courts agreeing with the Sixth District Court. In resolving the conflict amongst the district courts, the Supreme Court advised “as a general rule, ‘the statute in effect at the time an insurance contract is executed governs substantive issues arising in connection with that contract.’ Hassen v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 674 So. 2d 106, 108 (Fla. 1996). The Court applied the two-step test when deciding whether a statute has retroactive application: “First, the Court must ascertain whether the Legislature intended for the statute to apply retroactively. Second, if such an intent is clearly expressed, the Court must determine whether retroactive application would violate any constitutional principles.” Menendez v. Progressive Exp. Ins. Co., 35 So. 3d 873, 877 (Fla. 2010). In analyzing the Legislature’s intent, the Court must determine whether the Legislature has manifested a clear command for retroactivity in the statutory text.  In review of the statutory text, the Court found nothing in the language of the statute to indicate that the phrase “all suits” was serving another purpose of expanding its reach to suits based on policies that both predate and postdate the enactment of the statute. Buis v. Universal Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., 394 So. 3d 738, 741 (Fla. 2d DCA 2024). Further, the Court noted the statute has an effective date, which has long been considered to be evidence against retroactive application of a statute. The Court concluded that, on its face, no provision of §627.70152 speaks to application of the statute to insurance policies issued before the statute’s effective date and therefore, the Legislature did not clearly command retroactivity of the statute to include insurance policies issued prior to the enactment of the statute. The Court briefly reviewed Universal’s argument that the presuit notice requirement was procedural, not substantive, and therefore should be applied retroactively; however, the Court agreed with the Sixth District Court’s finding that, in its entirety, §627.70152 transformed an insured’s ability to sue an insurance company under a property insurance policy and an insurer’s obligations to respond to and pay insurance claims, thus making the requirement a substantive change. The Court thereby upheld the decision of the Sixth District and disapproved the decision of the Fourth District in Cole.

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