CAROL A. ABRAMS, APPELLANT,
v.
GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, INC. AND SOUTH CAROLINA INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLEES
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Plaintiff appealed the dismissal of her defamation action against an insurance company. The court reversed, holding that the insurance company's letter could reasonably be interpreted as falsely accusing the plaintiff of misrepresentation in her insurance application, thus stating a viable defamation claim.
The court held that the letter was reasonably susceptible of a defamatory meaning—that the plaintiff was guilty of misrepresentation in acquiring her insurance policy—and therefore plaintiff adequately stated a cause of action for defamation.
[1] A motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action must be decided solely on the allegations within the complaint, accepting all well-pleaded allegations as true.
[2] Affirmative defenses and the sufficiency of anticipated evidence are irrelevant to a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action.
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“when considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action, the court must confine itself strictly to the allegations within the four corners of the complaint, and must accept all well-pleaded allegations as true”
Establishes the standard of review for motions to dismiss—courts must take allegations as true and not consider affirmative defenses at this stage
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePlaintiff obtained an insurance policy from General Insurance Company, omitting her son Ronald Frank Abrams as a driver. The insurance company sent a …
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NESBITT, Judge.
Plaintiff appeals an order dismissing her defamation action for failure to state a cause of action. We reverse.
It is axiomatic that when considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action, the court must confine itself strictly to the allegations within the four corners of the complaint, and must accept all well-pleaded allegations as true. Consideration of defendant’s affirmative defenses or sufficiency of evidence which plaintiff will likely produce on the merits is wholly irrelevant and immaterial to deciding such a motion. Parkway General Hospital, Inc. v. Allstate Insurance Co., 393 So. 2d 1171 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). Accord Kaufman v. A-1 Bus Lines, Inc., 363 So. 2d 61 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978).
In the present case, the alleged defamatory letter states that there appears to be a violation of section 627.409, Florida Statutes (1981), and then proceeds to quote that section in its entirety.1 The letter then states: Our file indicates that your son, Ronald Frank Abrams, is, in fact, a driver of the vehicle shown on our policy. This information was withheld in Sections II and III of your Application for Insurance dated 10/21/82.
If the General Insurance Company had been supplied with the proper information, i.e., that Ronald Frank Abrams, is, in fact, a driver of the vehicle we insure, the policy would have been issued at a substantially higher premium based on his record and his date of birth.
In view of the violation of the Statute, which denied General Insurance Company the information to properly evaluate the application, we hereby decline to provide any insurance coverage for this accident.
The defendant contends that the words attributed to it are not reasonably susceptible of the defamatory meaning contended for by plaintiff. Undoubtedly this was the basis on which the trial court dismissed the action, and it is with some reluctance that we take a different position. We find, however, that it is possible that persons reading the alleged defamatory letter might take it to mean that plaintiff was guilty of misrepresentation in the acquisition of her insurance policy. See Wolfson v. Kirk, 273 So. 2d 774, 778 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 279 So. 2d 32 (Fla.1973).
Accepting all well-pleaded allegations in the complaint as true, and construing them in the light most favorable to plaintiff, as we must, we find plaintiff has adequately stated a cause of action for defamation. Accordingly, the order dismissing the defamation action is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings.
. The,letter quotes the statute as follows:
627.409 Representations in applications; warranties (1) All statements and descriptions in any application for an insurance policy or annuity contract, or in negotiations therefor, by or in behalf of the insured or annuitant, shall be deemed to be representations and not warranties. Misrepresentations, omissions, concealment of facts, and incorrect statements shall not prevent a recovery under the policy or contract unless either:
(a) Fraudulent; or (b) Material either to the acceptance of the risk, or to the hazard assumed by the insurer; or (c) The insurer in good faith would either not have issued the policy or contract, or would not have issued it at the same premium rate, [...] or would not have provided coverage with respect to the hazard resulting in the loss, if the true facts had been known to the insurer, [sic] as required either by the application for the policy or contract or otherwise. (2) A breach or violation by the insured of any warranty, condition, or provision of any wet marine or transportation insurance policy, contract of insurance, endorsement, or application therefor, shall not render void the policy or contract, or constitute a defense to a loss thereon, unless such breach or violation . increased the hazard by any means within the control of the insured.
See § 627.409, Fla.Stat. (1981). This section was rewritten but substantively unchanged by the legislature in 1982. See § 627.409, Fla.Stat. (1983).
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Susan Fixel, Inc. v. Rosenthal & Rosenthal, Inc., 842 So. 2d 204 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003)…tion about the sufficiency of evidence which plaintiff will likely produce on the merits is wholly irrelevant and immaterial to deciding such a motion. Barbado v. Green & Murphy, P.A., 758 So. 2d 1173 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000); Abrams v. General Ins. Co., 460 So. 2d 572 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984); Parkway Gen. Hosp., Inc. v. Allstate, Ins. Co., 393 So. 2d 1171 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). Casting the allegations of the Third Amended Complaint in a light most favorable to Fixel, and accepting them as true, the claims against Rosent…
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Gowan v. BAY Cnty., 744 So. 2d 1136 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999)…im should not be dismissed with prejudice ‘without giving the plaintiff an opportunity to amend the defective pleading, unless it is apparent that the pleading cannot be amended to state a cause of action.’ ”); Abrams v. General Insurance Co., Inc., 460 So. 2d 572, 573 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984). An opportunity to amend the complaint should be freely granted and should not be denied unless the privilege has been abused. See id. at 1004. To recover on a § 1983 claim, a plaintiff must prove that (1) he was deprived of…
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Don A.G. PLATTÉ and Linda J. Platté v. Whitfield Realty Co., Inc., 511 So. 2d 720 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)…within the complaint’s four corners; consideration of the defendant’s affirmative defenses or of the sufficiency of evidence which plaintiff will likely produce on the merits is irrelevant to deciding such a motion. Abrams v. General Insurance Co., 460 So. 2d 572 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984). The fundamental question in ruling upon a motion to dismiss is whether a cause of action would be established by proving the allegations made in the plaintiff’s complaint. Robert L. Turchin, Inc. v. Gelfand Roofing, Inc., 450 So.…
Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Wolfson v. Kirk, 273 So. 2d 774 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973)
- Parkway Gen. Hosp., Inc. v. Allstate Ins. Co., 393 So. 2d 1171 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)
- Rae Kaufman v. A-1 BUS Lines, Inc., 363 So. 2d 61 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)
- Kirk v. Wolfson, 279 So. 2d 32 (Fla. 1973)
- S. Am. Fire Ins. Co. v. Maxwell, 279 So. 2d 32 (Fla. 1973)