AMERICAN CHAMBERS LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLANT,
v.
JAMES POWER, JR.; JIM POWER & ASSOCIATES, INC.; HAYES POWER & ASSOCIATES D/B/A JPA INSURANCE; AND JAMES POWER, SR, APPELLEES
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Florida appellate court reversed dismissal of insurer's cross-claim for indemnity against its insurance agent, holding that the cross-claim stated a valid cause of action but limiting indemnity to damages from the agent's unauthorized acts, excluding damages for the insurer's own bad faith conduct.
An insurer's cross-claim for indemnity against its agent states a valid claim when it alleges the agent's unauthorized acts caused the insurer's contractual liability to its insured, but indemnity does not extend to damages awarded for the insurer's own bad faith conduct.
[1] An indemnity claim against an insurance agent for unauthorized acts states a valid cause of action when the agent's conduct caused the insurer's contractual liability to…
Previewing 1 of 1 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 reviewing the propriety of an order dismissing a complaint, the court must confine its analysis to what appears within the four corners of the complaint, and must accept as true the well-pleaded allegations”
Standard for reviewing dismissal of complaint
American Chambers Life Insurance Company filed a cross-claim against its agent James Power seeking indemnity for damages arising from Power's actions.…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Contractual Liability cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
We reverse the trial court’s dismissal of American Chambers’ cross claim against its agent, James Power. Looking solely at the four corners of the document, American Chambers’ cross claim sufficiently stated a claim for indemnity against Power. See Rushing v. Bosse, 652 So. 2d 869, 872 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995) (when reviewing the propriety of an order dismissing a complaint, the court must confíne its analysis to what appears within the’ four corners of the complaint, and must accept as true the well-pleaded allegations).
We note that this cause of action against Power may extend only to damages arising out of American Chambers’ contractual liability to its insured, incurred as a result of unauthorized acts and fault of the agent. Indemnity may not be sought for damages awarded the insureds for the subsequent bad faith conduct of American Chambers. See Safecare Medical Ctr. v. Howard, 670 So. 2d 1020 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996) (one seeking indemnity must be utterly without fault). See also, Cox Cable Corp. v. Gulf Power Co., 591 So. 2d 627 (Fla.1992) (where an indemnification agreement does not clearly and unequivocally express an intent to indemnify a party for its own negligence, it will not be enforced).
GLICKSTEIN, STONE and WARNER, 33., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- COX Cable Corp. v. Gulf Power Co., 591 So. 2d 627 (Fla. 1992)
- Rushing v. Bosse, 652 So. 2d 869 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)
- Safecare Med. Ctr. v. Donald C. Howard, D.O., 670 So. 2d 1020 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)