CopyPublished | Supreme Court of Florida
...disclosures to the customer but nonetheless performs repair work
and then seeks payment from the insurer. The contending parties
in this case are an insurer, GEICO, and a windshield repair shop,
Glassco.
The Eleventh Circuit asks:
(1) Does Fla. Stat. § 559.921(1) grant an insurance
company a cause of action when a repair shop does not
provide any written repair estimate?
(2) Do the violations here under the Repair Act void
a repair invoice for completed windshield repai...
...-3-
From its inception, the Repair Act has contained a “remedies”
section that allows a “customer” who is “injured” by a violation of
the statute to sue for “damages” or injunctive relief. § 559.921(1),
Fla....
...93-219, § 4, Laws of Fla. Since then, the Repair Act has
empowered the Department to enforce the statute through both the
administrative process and civil lawsuits. The statute authorizes
the Department to impose administrative penalties up to $1,000 per
violation. §§
559.921(5)(a),
570.971(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2016). When
the Department brings a civil action to enforce the statute, available
remedies include injunctive relief, civil penalties, and “restitution
and damages for injured customers.” §
559.921(5)(a), Fla....
...the certified questions and inconsistent with the case as it comes to
us. See id. at 1138 (“Glassco completed the repair work, and this
appeal involves no customer complaints.”).
A
The answer to the first certified question is no: section
559.921(1) does not “grant an insurance company a cause of action
when a repair shop does not provide any written repair estimate.”
Id. at 1147. As we have explained, section 559.921(1) creates a
private right of action only for “[a]ny customer injured by a violation
of [the Repair Act].” (Emphasis added.) And “customer” is a defined
term in the statute: “the person who signs the written repair
estimate” or that person’s written designee....
...GEICO exaggerates the stakes. As we have explained, the
Repair Act authorizes government enforcement of the statute
through administrative proceedings and civil lawsuits. Available
remedies include fines, restitution, and damages for “injured
customers.” § 559.921(5)(a), Fla....
...disclosure requirements at issue renders a subsequent repair
invoice entirely void. And what the statute does say cuts against
the availability of that punitive remedy.
- 12 -
Most significant to our conclusion is section 559.921(7)....
...same time it imposed the repair shop registration requirement and
empowered the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
to enforce the statute, including through civil lawsuits seeking
damages for “injured customers.” Ch. 93-219, § 12, Laws of Fla.
Section 559.921(7) says:
If, in any proceeding brought pursuant to this part, it is
determined that the repairs and costs thereof were in fact
authorized, orally or in writing, the repairs were
completed in a proper manner, and t...
...of such repairs.
So, notwithstanding a repair shop’s violation of the Repair Act, the
Legislature has expressly allowed government enforcement entities
to adjust the penalties or damages if repairs were authorized and
properly performed. Given section 559.921(7), to read a voiding
penalty into the Repair Act would bring disharmony rather than
coherence to the statutory scheme.
Our conclusion is also informed by the wording of the Repair
Act’s private right of action provision, section 559.921(1)....
...have rendered that case’s reasoning obsolete. In 1986, when the
Fifth District Court of Appeal decided Osteen, the Repair Act did not
include a mechanism for government enforcement through the
imposition of administrative and civil fines. Nor did the statute
include section 559.921(7) and that provision’s express permission
for government enforcement authorities to credit repair shops for
work authorized and properly performed....
CopyPublished | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Argued: Sep 22, 2023
...In that
opinion, we certified to the Supreme Court of Florida the following
questions of law regarding the Florida Motor Vehicle Repair Act,
Fla. Stat. §§
559.901-.9221 (2016) (“Repair Act”):
(1) Does Fla. Stat. §
559.921(1) grant an insurance
company a cause of action when a repair shop does
not provide any written repair estimate?
(2) Do the violations here under the Repair Act void
a repair invoice...
...3
23-11056 Opinion of the Court 3
No. SC2023-1540, — So. 3d — ,
2024 WL 4281865, at *1 (Fla. Sept.
25, 2024). As to the first question, the Florida Supreme Court
responded that section
559.921(1) does not grant an insurance
company like GEICO a cause of action when a repair shop does not
provide any written repair estimate....
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 753, 2006 WL 167821
...Notwithstanding the absence of a transcript from the May 15, 2002 hearing, it is nonetheless clear that the issue of damages was not tried by implied consent. In his motion for fees, costs, and damages, Primicerio sought an award of attorney’s fees and costs against United pursuant to sections
559.921(1) and
713.585(7)(d), Florida Statutes. Section
559.921(1) provides: (1) Any customer injured by a violation of this part may bring an action in the appropriate court for relief....
...means any person who, for compensation, engages or attempts to engage in the repair of motor vehicles owned by other persons.... It is clear that United is not a “motor vehicle repair shop” within the meaning of section
559.903(6) and therefore section
559.921(1) is inapplicable to it....
