AUTO-OWNERS INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLANT/CROSS APPELLEE,
v.
MARY JO BROCKMAN, ETC., AND THE OHIO CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, ET AL., APPELLEES/CROSS APPELLEES, AND J & M HENTZEL INSURANCE AGENCY, DONALD F. AND CAROLYN THOMPSON, GMAC LEASING CORPORATION, AND AMERICAN FIRE AND CASUALTY COMPANY, APPELLEES/CROSS APPELLANTS

Fla. 5th DCA | 1988-05-05
Nos. 87-944, 87-1151, 87-1213, 87-1235 and 87-1278
COBB and DANIEL, JJ., concur.
524 So. 2d 490 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1988) Positive Treatment
Cited by 5 cases

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Synopsis

This consolidated appeal involves multiple insurance companies and related parties disputing coverage priority for a motorcycle-automobile collision injury claim. The court clarified insurance coverage hierarchies, corporate entity separateness, and insurer liability defenses under Florida insurance law.


Holding

The court held: (1) GMAC was not required to provide the first layer of coverage because the lease agreement validly shifted primary coverage to the Thompsons' insurers under section 627.7263; (2) Auto-Owners did not cover Kirk because he was not a named insured and corporations are legally distinct from their officers; (3) the American Fire policy's termination clause was not activated because Controlled Communications and the Thompsons are separate legal entities; (4) American Fire covered the Corvette because timely notice was given within thirty days; (5) American Fire could not assert a 'prejudicial late notice' defense due to failure to comply with statutory requirements; (6) Ohio Casualty's umbrella policy did not cover the July 17 accident because it was not effective until August 14, 1984; and (7) Hentzel Insurance Agency was not liable for the missing umbrella coverage.


Headnotes

[1] A lease agreement that complies with statutory requirements can shift primary insurance coverage obligations from the lessor to the lessee's insurers.

[2] A corporate officer or stockholder is not a named insured under a policy issued to the corporation merely by virtue of their office or stock ownership.

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Key Quotes

“On its face, the lease agreement between GMAC and the Thompsons complied with the requirements of section 627.7263, Florida Statutes, and shifted primary coverage from GMAC to the Thompsons' insurers up to their full policy limits.”

Establishes that the lease agreement validly transferred primary coverage obligations from the vehicle owner to the lessee's insurers.

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Facts & Procedural History

On July 17, 1984, Brockman, a passenger on Glenn's motorcycle, was injured in a collision with a Corvette operated by Kirk. The Corvette was owned by …

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Opinion of the Court
COWART, Judge.

COWART, Judge.

Brockman was a passenger on a motorcycle operated by Glenn which on July 17, 1984, collided with a Corvette automobile operated by Kirk. Brockman sued Glenn and Kirk, alleging each was negligent in causing the collision. The Corvette was owned by GMAC and leased to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson and subleased by them to Controlled Communications, a corporation wholly owned by the Thompsons. Kirk was operating the Corvette with Mrs. Thompson’s permission. Kirk was the sole stockholder and president of R.K. Marketing, a corporation which owned two vehicles with liability insurance issued by Auto-Owners. On June 14, 1984 (33 days before the accident), the Thompsons requested their insurance agent, Hentzel Insurance Agency, to issue two policies: (1) a personal automobile liability policy that was issued as of June 14, 1984 (33 days before the accident) by American Fire and (2) an umbrella policy of personal excess liability insurance that was issued on September 11,1984 by Ohio Casualty, effective August 14, 1984 (28 days after the accident). Controlled Communications had a business automobile policy issued by USF&G.

Through joinders, interventions, third party claims, and separate actions in five cases, the various rights and obligations of the insurance companies and of Hentzel Insurance Agency became the subject of a request for a declaratory decree. Various parties appealed the trial court’s ruling and the appeals were consolidated. We hold as follows:

(1) The trial court did not err in determining the priority of coverage between the various insurers because the relationships of each coverage in each policy were inherently involved in adjudicating the insurance coverage questions presented by the request for declaratory judgment.

(2) The trial court erred in adjudicating that GMAC, as the owner and lessor of the Corvette, provide the “first layer of coverage” of $10,000 required by the financial responsibility statutes, sections 324.-021(7) and 324.151(l)(a), Florida Statutes. On its face, the lease agreement between GMAC and the Thompsons complied with the requirements of section 627.7263, Florida Statutes, and shifted primary coverage from GMAC to the Thompsons’ insurers up to their full policy limits.

(3) The trial court erred in adjudicating that Auto-Owners provide the “second layer” of coverage because Kirk, although an actively negligent party, was not operating either of the vehicles specifically covered by Auto-Owners and Kirk was not a named insured as was necessary for coverage under the “drive other cars clause” in Auto-Owner’s policy. Corporations are entities legally separate and distinct from their officers and stockholders; therefore, Kirk was not a named insured under a policy issued to R.K. Marketing as named insured merely because of his office and stock ownership interest. There is no policy “ambiguity” as to this. See American States Insurance Company v. Kelley, 446 So. 2d 1085 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984), rev. denied, 456 So. 2d 1181 (Fla.1984); Hanisch v. Clark, 200 So. 2d 601 (Fla. 3d DCA 1967).

(4) The trial court implicitly, and correctly, adjudicated that the existence of the USF & G policy, providing business auto insurance in favor of the corporation Controlled Communications, did not activate the termination clause in the American Fire policy, providing personal coverage to the Thompsons, because the two policies and the insureds were not “similar” within the meaning of the termination clause in the American Fire policy. Controlled Communications is not the mere alter ego of the Thompsons but is a legally separate and distinct entity from the Thompsons as officers and stockholders just as R.K. Marketing is a legally separate and distinct entity from Kirk.

(5) The final judgment below implicitly rejected the claim that the Corvette was not covered by the American Fire policy because the insureds (the Thompsons) did not request American Fire to insure the Corvette within thirty days after the Thompsons acquired an ownership interest in the Corvette. There is competent, substantial evidence that the Thompsons, within the said thirty day period, advised Amer-ican Fire’s agent of their acquisition of the Corvette and that the agent understood the Thompsons were calling to request coverage on the Corvette notwithstanding that the agent advised the Thompsons that American Fire did not insure Corvettes.

(6) The trial court correctly adjudicated that American Fire was precluded from asserting its “prejudicial late notice” coverage defense for failure to comply with section 627.426(2), Florida Statutes, which denies coverage defenses to insurers unless the insurer takes certain timely action. Specifically, from the record, the trial court properly found that the nonwaiver agreement was not obtained from the insured “following full disclosure of the specific facts and policy provisions upon which the coverage defense [was] asserted” as provided in section 627.426(2)(b)(2), Florida Statutes.

(7) There is ample evidence in the record to support the trial court’s adjudication that the Thompsons did not order or direct, and that Ohio Casualty did not by binder or otherwise agree, that the requested personal excess coverage would be effective as of June 14, 1984, the date the coverage was requested. The Ohio Casualty policy, being an occurrence policy with an effective date of August 14, 1984, did not provide coverage as to the prior accident on July 17, 1984.

(8) The trial court implicitly found that Hentzel Insurance Agency was not liable to the Thompsons because the personal excess coverage was not obtained on a date effective before the accident. There is evidence from which the trial court could have concluded that the insurance agency exercised reasonable skill and care in providing the requested coverage in a timely manner as the Thompsons did not request that the coverage be effective at any particular time.

The trial court’s finding that GMAC provide the first layer of coverage, and that Auto-Owners provided coverage to Kirk as to the accident (paragraphs 2 and 3 above), are reversed; all other adjudications of the trial court are affirmed.

The Thompsons have filed a motion for the allowance of attorney’s fees in connection with the appeal by American Fire. Because section 627.428, Florida Statutes, provides for the award of attorney’s fees on appeal to a successful insured, the mo tion is granted and remanded to the trial court for determination of the amount of attorney’s fees to be awarded for the appellate proceedings.

AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; REMANDED.

COBB and DANIEL, JJ., concur.


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Cited By

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    …one (including an employee) who is injured while occupying a corporation car or who is struck by a corporation car and who is not required to have his own coverage, will be insured. See Id. at 779. See also Auto-Owners Insurance Company v. Brockman, 524 So. 2d 490 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988)(Motor-ist was not named insured under policy issued to corporation as named insured merely because of his office and stock ownership interest in corporation.) Here, the plain language of the insurance policy requires reversal o…
  • Horn v. John Hancock Variable Life Ins. Co., 616 So. 2d 590 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)
    …n in the accidental death benefit rider, moreover, the exclusion was not in itself void based on public policy grounds. Professional Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Freytes & Sons Corp., 565 So. 2d 900 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990); Auto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Brockman, 524 So. 2d 490, 493 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988); Willis Ins. Agency, Inc. v. Luckey, 466 So. 2d 1197 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985). Affirmed.…
  • Wausau Underwriters Ins. v. Baillie Ex Rel. Estate of Stevens, 281 F. Supp. 2d 1307 (M.D. Fla. 2002)
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