Federal Insurance Co. v. Perlmutter
On remand from the Florida Supreme Court's decision in Perlmutter v. Federal Insurance Co. clarifying the section 768.72 standard, the Fourth District re-examined orders allowing the Perlmutters to amend counterclaims to seek punitive damages. It affirmed as to Peerenboom but reversed as to Douberley (insufficient pleading and evidentiary proffer of intentional misconduct) and as to Federal (vicarious punitive liability failed where no managing agent was identified and the derivative claim collapsed with the employee's).
Key facts
- Federal Insurance Co. and individual defendants Peerenboom and Douberley were sued by the Perlmutters, who sought to amend their counterclaims to add punitive damages claims for conversion, abuse of process, and civil conspiracy.
- The trial court granted the Perlmutters' motion to amend counterclaims to assert punitive damages against all defendants; the Fourth District then reviewed the orders on remand from the Florida Supreme Court's Perlmutter v. Federal Insurance Co. decision clarifying the section 768.72 standard.
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Why it matters
This is the Fourth District's first application of the Florida Supreme Court's Perlmutter II framework for section 768.72 punitive damages amendments, and it supplies concrete guidance litigators need on both halves of… — full analysis with a trial
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