HARTFORD ACCIDENT AND INDEMNITY COMPANY, APPELLANT,
v.
ROSALIE RICHENDOLLAR, ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF FRANK RICHENDOLLAR, DECEASED, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1979-01-31
No. 78-1447
BOARDMAN, Acting C. J., and OTT, J., concur.
368 So. 2d 603 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1979) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

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Synopsis

Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company appeals a trial court decision allowing a corporate stockholder/officer's estate to stack uninsured motorist coverage across four company vehicles. The appellate court reverses, holding that stacking is limited to family relationships and does not extend to corporate stockholders/officers injured while operating employer vehicles.


Holding

A corporate stockholder/officer is not entitled to stack uninsured motorist coverage. Stacking is limited to situations involving familial relationships between the named insured and the injured party. The closer corporate identity of a stockholder/officer to the named insured corporation does not constitute a sufficient basis to distinguish the case from precedent denying stacking to corporate employees.


Headnotes

[1] A corporate stockholder/officer injured while driving a corporate vehicle is not entitled to stack uninsured motorist coverage under the corporation's automobile insuranc…

[2] The presumption that an insured intends to purchase extra uninsured motorist protection when insuring multiple vehicles applies to familial relationships, not corporate e…

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Key Quotes

“Stacking is derived from the presumption that where the named insured purchases uninsured motorist coverage on more than one automobile, he intends to buy the extra protection for himself and his family, regardless of whether the injury occurs in any one of his insured vehicles or elsewhere.”

Establishes the foundational rationale for stacking coverage based on family relationships.

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Facts & Procedural History

Frank Richendollar was vice president and major stockholder of Bellaire Construction Company. While driving one of the company's four insured motor ve…

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Opinion of the Court
SCHEB, Judge.

SCHEB, Judge.

The question we now address is whether a corporate stockholder/officer is entitled to “stack” the uninsured motorist coverage under the corporation’s automobile insurance policy.

Frank Richendollar was vice president and a major stockholder of Bellaire Construction Company. While driving one of Bellaire’s four motor vehicles Richendollar was killed in a collision with a car driven by an uninsured motorist.

All of Bellaire’s vehicles were insured under a comprehensive automobile insurance policy issued on January 14, 1975, by appellant Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company. The trial court held that Richen-dollar’s estate was entitled to aggregate or “stack” the uninsured motorist coverage provided by the Hartford policy. Under the court’s order the Richendollar estate would have been permitted to multiply its $15,000 uninsured motorist protection by its four insured vehicles and thereby have $60,000 coverage. On authority of Travelers Insurance Co. v. Pac, 337 So. 2d 397 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976), cert. denied, 351 So. 2d 407 (Fla.1977) we reverse.1

The concept of aggregating or “stacking” uninsured motorist coverage was first approved in Tucker v. Government Employees Insurance Co., 288 So. 2d 238 (Fla.1973). Stacking is derived from the presumption that where the named insured purchases uninsured motorist coverage on more than one automobile, he intends to buy the extra protection for himself and his family, regardless of whether the injury occurs in any one of his insured vehicles or elsewhere. In Travelers Insurance Co. v. Pac, supra, we refused to extend this concept to the situation where a corporate employee is injured by an uninsured motorist while operating his employer’s vehicle. See also GEICO v. Taylor, 342 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977). In Tucker v. GEICO the supreme court predicated its holding on the familial relationship between the named insured and the injured person. We held in Travelers Insurance Co. v. Pac that the Tucker rationale does not require that an employee be allowed to stack his employer’s coverage, because in such an instance the familial relationship is absent.

Appellee seeks to sustain the trial court’s view by pointing out that the late Mr. Richendollar, because of his corporate position, was more directly identified with the Bellaire Construction Company than the ordinary employee. Despite the closer identity of Richendollar to the named insured, i. e., the corporation, we cannot find that this presents a significant reason to distinguish this case from the rationale of Travelers Insurance Co. v. Pac.

Accordingly, we reverse the order appealed and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BOARDMAN, Acting C. J., and OTT, J., concur. . The reader should note that § 627.4132, Fla. Stat. (1977), which became effective October 1, 1976, provides:

If an insured or named insured is protected by any type of motor vehicle insurance policy for liability, uninsured motorist, personal injury protection, or any other coverage, the policy shall provide that the insured or named insured is protected only to the extent of the coverage he has on the vehicle involved in the accident. However, if none of the insured’s or named insured’s vehicles is involved in the accident, coverage is available only to the extent of coverage on any one of the vehicles with applicable coverage. Coverage on any other vehicles shall not be added to or stacked upon that coverage. This section shall not apply to reduce the coverage available by reason of insurance policies insuring different named insureds.

Dewberry v. Auto-Owners Insurance Co., 363 So. 2d 1077 (Fla.1978), holds that § 627.4132 is not applicable to insurance policies issued prior to the effective date of this section.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Am. States Ins. Co. v. Kelley, 446 So. 2d 1085 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984)
    …delity & Guaranty Co. v. Curry, supra; Florida Insurance Guaranty Ass’n v. Johnson, 392 So. 2d 1348 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981); Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Searle, 379 So. 2d 131 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979); Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co. v. Richendollar, 368 So. 2d 603 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979). Because the anti-stacking statute did not expressly state that it was changing the existing case law, it appears to us that the legislature did not intend to abolish the case law on classification. State ex rel. Martin v. Michel…
  • Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co. v. Martin, 399 So. 2d 536 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)
    …252 So. 2d 229 (Fla.1971). Travelers Ins. Co. v. Pac, 337 So. 2d 397 (Fla.2d DCA 1976), cert. denied, 351 So. 2d 407 (Fla.1977); Marks v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 339 So. 2d 1123 (Fla.3d DCA 1976); Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Richendollar, 368 So. 2d 603 (Fla.2d DCA 1979). Citing Pac, Marks, and Richendollar, Lum-bermens contends that stacking is never permitted when a “commercial,” as opposed to a “personal,” automobile policy is involved. We do not decide whether the instant policy (which insured…
  • Fla. Ins. Guar. Ass'n v. Johnson, 392 So. 2d 1348 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980)
    …e others should not inure to his benefit. Pac, supra at 398. The reasoning of Pac has been followed in later cases. See Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Searle, 379 So. 2d 131 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979); Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co. v. Richendollar, 368 So. 2d 603 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979). Therefore, Johnson was properly included as a Class II insured under Reserve’s coverage of Fudge’s vehicle involved in the accident as she was operating it with Fudge’s permission; however, Johnson is not covered under Fudge’s a…

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