FIRST STATE INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLANT,
v.
DANIEL STUBBS, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1982-08-11
No. 80-1621
DOWNEY and BERANEK, JJ., concur.
418 So. 2d 1114 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1982) Negative Treatment
Cited by 22 cases

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Synopsis

First State Insurance Company appeals a summary judgment requiring it to provide underinsured motorist coverage to Daniel Stubbs, an injured county employee. The court affirms that First State must offer such coverage but reverses the lower court's determination of the coverage limits, holding that the coverage must be coextensive with First State's liability coverage of $100,000, not the $10,000 figure imposed by the trial court.


Holding

First State's failure to offer uninsured motorist coverage in compliance with Florida Statute Section 627.727(1) obligates it to provide such coverage. The coverage must be coextensive with First State's excess liability coverage limits of $100,000, not the $10,000 figure imposed by the trial court. First State's uninsured motorist coverage applies to any damages sustained by Stubbs over and above $100,000.


Headnotes

[1] An insurer's failure to offer uninsured motorist coverage equal to its excess liability coverage violates statutory requirements.

[2] Failure to offer uninsured motorist coverage obligates the insurer to provide such coverage in an amount equal to the liability coverage.

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Key Quotes

“Failure to offer uninsured motorists coverage obligates the insurer to provide such coverage in an amount equal to the liability coverage.”

Establishes the fundamental principle that insurers failing to comply with statutory requirements to offer uninsured motorist coverage must be deemed to have included it automatically.

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Facts & Procedural History

Daniel Stubbs, employed by the Broward County Sheriff's office, suffered serious injuries in an automobile accident while acting within the scope of e…

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Opinion of the Court
HURLEY, Judge.

HURLEY, Judge.

First State Insurance Company (First State) appeals a summary judgment finding that it, as an excess liability carrier, is liable to provide underinsured motorist coverage for appellee Daniel Stubbs. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Daniel Stubbs was employed by the Bro-ward County Sheriff’s office. While engaged in activities within the scope of his employment, he was seriously injured in an auto accident. The driver of the other automobile had $10,000 in liability coverage. Stubbs’ damages substantially exceeded this amount. Consequently, Stubbs sued his employer’s liability insurers, seeking under-insured motorists’ coverage for his injuries.

The Broward County Sheriff’s office maintained three policies. The first, with Consolidated Mutual Insurance Company, (Consolidated), provided comprehensive auto liability coverage of $25,000 per person/$50,000 per incident with identical amounts of uninsured motorists’ coverage. A second policy, underwritten by Midland Insurance Company, (Midland), provided excess liability coverage of $100,000/$300,-000. The third layer of coverage, written by appellant, First State, provided excess automobile coverage from $100,000 to $2,000,000.

The Sheriff’s office accepted Consolidated’s offer of uninsured motorists’ coverage. At about the same time, the Sheriff’s office rejected Midland’s written offer of uninsured motorists’ coverage of $100,000/$300,-000. First State Insurance Company never offered uninsured motorists’ coverage to the Sheriff’s office.

The undisputed facts at the motion for summary judgment indicated that First State’s policy limited its liability to $2,000,-000 in excess of either (1) amounts recoverable under the underlying automotive liability insurance ($100,000) or (2) $10,000, as the ultimate net loss resulting from any one occurrence not covered by the underlying insurance. Since the court found that First State had failed to offer uninsured motorist coverage, it determined, as a matter of law, that the policy provided $10,000 to $2,000,-000 coverage. It reached this decision by concluding that the accident was an “occurrence not covered by the underlying insurance.”

We agree with the trial court’s determination that First State’s failure to offer uninsured motorists’ coverage equal to its excess liability coverage violated Section 627.727(1), Florida Statutes (1971). That statute required insurance companies to offer uninsured motorists coverage up to 100% of the amount of any liability coverage. Failure to offer uninsured motorists coverage obligates the insurer to provide such coverage in an amount equal to the liability coverage. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co. v. Green, 327 So. 2d 65 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 336 So. 2d 1179 (Fla. 1976); Lumbermen’s Mutual Casualty Co. v. Beaver, 355 So. 2d 441 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978).

We cannot agree, however, with the trial court’s determination of First State’s bottom limit of liability, i.e., $10,000. Section 627.727(1), Florida Statutes (1971), required First State to include uninsured motorist coverage in limits no less than the liability limits, unless rejected by the insured. Since First State failed to comply with the statute, the trial court appropriately employed the remedial device of construing the policy to provide uninsured motorist coverage. But the court erred by requiring First State to shoulder a heavier burden than would have been imposed by the statute in the first instance. First State’s excess policy provided a bottom limit of $100,000 for bodily injury coverage. Yet the trial court went below this figure and established a $10,000 base. We think this was incorrect. First State’s uninsured motorist coverage is coextensive with its liability coverage and, therefore, we hold that First State’s excess indemnity policy provides uninsured motorist coverage for any damages sustained by Mr. Stubbs over and above $100,000.

Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

DOWNEY and BERANEK, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By (11 total)

  • Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Kauffman, 495 So. 2d 1184 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986)
    …the absence of substantial competent evidence of an informed rejection, the insured will be deemed to have uninsured motorist insurance with the same limits as the bodily injury liability coverage in the policy. First State Insurance Co. v. Stubbs, 418 So. 2d 1114 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982), rev. denied, 426 So. 2d 26, 29 (Fla.1983). Whether there was an informed rejection in a particular case is a question of fact. Kimbrell, 420 So. 2d at 1086. The burden of proof to show that there was a rejection and that it was…
  • Strochak v. Fed. Ins. Co., 717 So. 2d 453 (Fla. 1998)
    …firmative selection by the named insured. In construing section 627.727, primary liability insurance policies and excess liability policies were treated the same in respect to the required uninsured motorist coverage. First State Ins. Co. v. Stubbs, 418 So. 2d 1114 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). The statute in subdivision (1) made clear that it applied to “automobile liability insurance covering liability for motor vehicles delivered or issued for delivery in this state with respect to any motor vehicle registered or p…
  • Stonewall Ins. Co. v. Heter, 438 So. 2d 950 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983)
    …when it established the amount of the retained limits ($10,000) as the floor of appellant’s excess uninsured motorist coverage. The trial court’s conclusion is in direct conflict with this Court’s opinion in First State Insurance Company v. Stubbs, 418 So. 2d 1114 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982), pet. for review denied, 426 So. 2d 26, 29 (Fla.1983), which involved facts parallel to the case sub judice and wherein this Court found that the court erred by requiring First State to shoulder a heavier burden than would have…

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