UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TAMPA DIVISION

KATHLEEN CROTTS,

Plaintiff, v. Case No. 8:21-cv-1547-KKM-AAS

SOUTHERN-OWNERS INSURANCE COMPANY,

Defendant. _______________________________________/

ORDER Plaintiff Kathleen Crotts moves to remand this action to state court. (Doc. 8). She argues that Southern Owners failed to establish that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. See (Doc. 8).1 Her arguments fail. Crotts claims uninsured, underinsured motorist benefits and alleges that she “performed all conditions precedent to entitle recovery under the [insurance policy with Southern Owners], but . . . Southern Owners denied that coverage exists and/or refused to pay [Crotts] the full value of the claim.” (Doc. 1-8 at ¶ 11). Attached to the complaint is a copy of Crotts’s insurance policy with Southern Owners which states that her bodily injury coverage limit is “$250,000 person/$500,000 occurrence.” (Id. at 5). These facts at least make it possible that Crotts seeks a minimum of $75,000. See Williams v. Best Buy

1 The parties do not dispute that diversity exists between them. See (Doc. 8). The Court is also satisfied that diversity exists. See (Doc. 1 at 4). Co., Inc.,

(11th Cir. 2001). Southern Owners demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence though that, not only is it possible that the lawsuit exceeds the amount in controversy, it is exactly what Crotts is seeking. Southern Owners attaches a demand letter from Crotts for the full $250,000 policy limits (Doc. 1-5 at 1); a statement in that demand letter that her future pain and suffering will cost $1,827,920 Ud. at 4); and a civil remedy notice stating that Crotts’s damages “far exceed the underlying . . . underinsured motorist limits of $250,000.” (Doc. 1-6 at 5); see also Burns v. Windsor Ins. Co.,

(11th Cir. 1994) (“While [a] settlement offer, by itself, may not be determinative, it counts for something.”). As a result, Southern Owners established that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. See

(a). Crotts’s motion for remand (Doc. 8) is DENIED. ORDERED in Tampa, Florida, on August 5, 2021.

Fath Kewnlall Miryelle Kathryr Kimball Mizelle United States District Judge