Dale v. Schaub and State Farm Automobile Insurance Co.
Florida District Court of Appeal
301 So. 3d 1000 (2020)

- Written by Kate Luck, JD
Facts
Kyle Dale (plaintiff) was injured in a motor-vehicle collision involving Viktoria Schaub (defendant). Dale sued Schaub to recover for his injuries and also sued his own uninsured-motorist carrier for the $10,000 insurance limit. Schaub had insurance with a $100,000 limit. Dale’s attorney directed his paralegal to send settlement offers to each insurance company for the policy limits. Due to a miscommunication, the paralegal sent a settlement offer to Schaub’s insurance carrier for $10,000 instead of $100,000. Schaub immediately accepted the offer and issued a check for $10,000. When the attorney received the check and noticed the error, he filed a motion to withdraw the settlement offer, asserting that the offer was intended to be for $100,000 and that the attorney did not have authority from Dale to settle for $10,000. The trial court denied the motion and denied reconsideration. Dale appealed, arguing that the offer should be set aside due to the mistake and that Dale’s attorney did not have authority to settle the claim for $10,000.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Warner, J.)
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