South Florida attorneys turn $500K insurance settlement to $9M payout

Bad news for one insurance company.

After failing for nearly 400 days to tender its policy limit of $250,000 in coverage, according to plaintiff counsel, an insurance company took an $8.5 million hit to its bottom line to settle a lawsuit involving a catastrophic injury after a wild series of events.

“The insurance companies need to make sure to keep their policyholders first and act in good faith, which they are required to do under Florida law,” said Pedro Echarte, a partner at the Haggard Law Firm in Coral Gables who represented plaintiff, Abraham Valdez, who was run over in a hit-and-run crash. “They can’t put themselves first to protect their own interests.”

Benjamin Esco, a partner at Cole, Scott & Kissane in Miami, represented defendant, Luis Iraheta, who rented the Lamborghini Urus from defendant, GoExotics LLC.

Esco said Iraheta has expressed remorse for the incident that “went from the best night of his life to the worst night of his life in the span of five minutes.”

Michelle O’Brien, a partner at Quinarios, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, who represented GoExotics, did not respond to a request for comment. The names of the insurance companies are confidential per the terms of the settlement.

Fled

In March 2021, Iraheta traveled on vacation with a friend and rented the Lamborghini, in part, for a night on the town in which they frequented multiple nightclubs before arriving at the Arena Grill & Lounge in North Miami, court documents show. As Iraheta partied, he became involved in an altercation between two groups of women before security guards booted him and his friend from the venue.

Iraheta, who was allegedly drunk, was leaving the premises to head to the rented Lamborghini when several people pummeled him, according to court documents. As Iraheta and his friend sustained the attack, they fled the scene in the Lamborghini.

Moments later, Iraheta allegedly ran over plaintiff Valdez and failed to stop, according to cell phone video from the scene. And about a mile later, Iraheta collided into a vehicle moments before authorities arrested him. An ambulance transported Valdez to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Medical staff intubated Valdez, who went into a coma for over five weeks.

Soon afterward, Valdez, who sustained multiple injuries from being run over, spent into 85 days in inpatient rehabilitation before medical staff discharged him from the hospital.

The medical staff informed Valdez, despite his continued physical therapy, he will never walk normally again.

400 Days

As for the settlement obtained in the Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Iraheta had an auto insurance policy that provided $250,000 in coverage, and the carrier, whose name is confidential, tendered its policy limits within 19 days of the incident.

And a policy by a separate insurance company provided $250,000 in coverage and covered Iraheta as an additional insured.

However, the nearly 400 days in which the carrier failed to tender its policy limits exposed Iraheta to a potentially enormous verdict.

Valdez’s counsel argued that the tender was untimely and that while the case could have been resolved at the inception for the available policy limit — that was no longer the case due to the insurance company’s bad faith. Now, the carrier, through its lawyers to settle the case before trial, paid the $8.5 million, which is 34 times its policy limits.

Echarte, whose co-counsel was Angel Diaz, a partner at Kirshner, Groff & Diaz in Miami, said the settlement proceeds would help Valdez receive the care that he needs. His girlfriend, who moved into Valdez’s apartment before the crash, immediately assumed the role as his caretaker.

“He literally needed someone around the clock to help him, and he didn’t have the resources to do it,” Echarte said. “His conditions have improved quite a bit, but he’s still going to need extensive care that he wouldn’t have had without this result.”

Related:

Will eliminating ‘one-way fee shifting’ reduce insurance litigation in Florida?

How long do insurers have a duty to defend?

Emerging factors forecast a continued rise in insurance litigation