Background
After a family member’s death during hospitalization, the personal representative filed a medical negligence action against five physicians, including Patrick Regan, D.O. and two hospitals, including Lawnwood Medical Center, Inc., and related entities. The circuit court referred all issues to nonbinding arbitration, pursuant to section 44.103, Florida Statutes (2021), and Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.820.
In May 2022, the arbitrator rendered a decision. The decision found two of the physicians—Dr. Regan and Dr. Tamar—were negligent, and both were Lawnwood’s agents. The decision found two other physicians were not negligent. The decision did not include findings regarding the fifth physician, the second hospital, and the related entities.
The arbitrator’s decision apportioned 30% of the fault to Dr. Regan and 70% to Dr. Tamar, found Lawnwood was vicariously liable for those two physicians’ negligence, and found the personal representative was entitled to recover $6,534,700 in damages for the decedent’s estate.
Dr. Tamar and his employer, Locumtenens, timely filed a motion for a trial de novo under rule 1.820(h) as to the personal representative’s claims against them. Contemporaneously, the personal representative timely filed two motions for a trial de novo under rule 1.820(h) as to claims against the remaining physicians and entities whom the arbitrator had not found were negligent, and two derivative agency claims against Lawnwood.
Dr. Regan and Lawnwood, however, did not timely file a motion for a trial de novo under rule 1.820(h). Instead, after being served with the arbitrator’s decision, their counsel took actions within rule 1.820(h)’s twenty-day deadline period to attempt to settle the claims. Twenty-two days after being served with the arbitrator’s decision—that is, two days after rule 1.820(h)’s twenty-day deadline had passed—Dr. Regan’s and Lawnwood’s counsel filed a motion for a trial de novo.
Because Dr. Regan and Lawnwood had untimely filed their motion for a trial de novo, the personal representative filed a motion for final judgment against Dr. Regan and Lawnwood. The personal representative’s motion sought a final judgment for the amount recommended in the arbitrator’s decision.
The circuit court entered an order granting the personal representative’s motion for final judgment. The circuit court’s ensuing judgment included findings conforming to the arbitrator’s liability determinations against Dr. Regan and Lawnwood. The judgment awarded the decedent’s estate $6,534,700 in damages in the following amounts: $1,960,410 jointly against both Dr. Regan and Lawnwood; and $4,574,290 against Lawnwood, as Dr. Tamar’s principal. Although the circuit court entitled the judgment as a “partial final” judgment (apparently due to the personal representative’s remaining actions against the other defendants), the judgment included the well-recognized words of finality—“for which let execution issue.”
The District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida Fourth District held in its July 3, 2024 en banc opinion: “In this appeal, we enforce section 44.103(5), Florida Statutes (2021), which provides: “An arbitration decision shall be final if a request for a trial de novo is not filed within the time provided by the rules promulgated by the Supreme Court.” Here, because the appellants did not file a “motion for trial … within 20 days of service on the parties of the [arbitration] decision” pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.820(h), and did not seek to show excusable neglect for their untimeliness under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b)(1), the circuit court correctly entered judgment against the appellants as “required to carry out the terms of the [arbitration] decision as provided by section 44.103(5), Florida Statutes.”
Source Lawnwood Medical Center, Inc. v. Rouse, No. 4D2022-2637.
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