MERCURY INSURANCE COMPANY OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
CHARLIE'S TREE SERVICE, INC., SCOTT ROSEN, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF ELIAS CABALLERO, VALENTIN BAUTISTA-BAUTISTA, MINERVA BAUTISTA ALEMAN, HIS WIFE, JUAN VICTORINO CORDOSO, AND BIG LAKE ROOFING ENTERPRISES, INC., APPELLEES

Fla. 4th DCA | 2010-02-24
No. 4D09-3192
WARNER and LEVINE, JJ., concur.
29 So. 3d 375 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2010)

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.

Synopsis

Mercury Insurance Company of Florida appealed a declaratory judgment finding coverage for an employee's negligence lawsuit arising from a workplace automobile accident. The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed, holding that a standard commercial auto policy exclusion for employee injuries arising out of employment precluded coverage for the claim.


Holding

The court held that the policy exclusion applied because the facts fell squarely within the exclusion: Charlie's was an insured under the policy, Bautista was an employee of Charlie's, and his injuries arose out of or within the course of his employment. The exclusion is not limited by the parameters of a particular lawsuit but applies to the underlying facts of the accident for which coverage is sought.


Headnotes

[1] An insurance policy exclusion for bodily injury to an employee of an insured arising out of or within the course of employment applies regardless of whether the insured i…

[2] An employee's injury arising out of or within the course of employment is excluded from coverage under a commercial auto policy when workers' compensation benefits are pa…

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

Key Quotes

“The exclusion is not confined to the parameters of a particular lawsuit, but is directed at the facts of the accident for which coverage is sought.”

Establishes that the exclusion applies based on the underlying facts and circumstances of the injury, not based on which party is sued.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Valentin Bautista-Bautista and Elias Caballero were employees of Charlie's Tree Service, Inc. While working, Caballero was driving a company truck wit…

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.


Opinion of the Court
GROSS, C.J.

GROSS, C.J.

Because a policy exclusion applies, we reverse a final declaratory judgment finding that insurance coverage exists for a lawsuit arising out of an automobile accident.

Valentin Bautista-Bautista and Elias Caballero were employees of Charlie’s Tree Service, Inc. While both were on the job, Caballero was driving a company truck in which Bautista was a passenger. The truck was in an accident that killed Caballero and injured Bautista.

Bautista settled with Charlie’s for worker’s compensation benefits and sued Caballero’s estate. Mercury Insurance Company of Florida had issued a commercial auto policy where Charlie’s was the named insured. Mercury filed a declaratory judgment action to establish that exclusions in the policy precluded coverage for Bautista’s claim against Caballero’s estate. Both parties moved for summary judgment. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of Bautista, ruling that there was coverage under the Mercury policy for Bautista’s claims against Caballero’s estate.

The facts of this case fall under at least one exclusion in the policy, so the court should have granted judgment in favor of Mercury.

The policy provides that coverage and Mercury’s duty to defend “does not apply to”

6. Bodily injury to an employee of an insured ... arising out of or within the course of employment, except with respect to a domestic employee if benefits are neither paid nor required to be provided under any Workers’ Compensation, disability benefits or other similar *377law. This exclusion applies whether the insured may be liable as an employer or in any other capacity and to any obligation to share damages with or repay someone else who must pay damages because of the injury.

There is no dispute (1) that Charlie’s is “an insured” within the meaning of the exclusion, (2) that Bautista was an employee of Charlie’s, and (3) that Bautista’s injuries arose out of or within the course of his employment with Charlie’s.

We reject Bautista’s argument that “an insured” must refer only to Caballero, because Caballero is the only “insured”1 he has sued. The exclusion is not confined to the parameters of a particular lawsuit, but is directed at the facts of the accident for which coverage is sought. There is no getting around the fact that Charlie’s is “an insured” under the policy. We agree with the observations of the second district that exclusions such as this one

are inserted in business policies for the benefit of the employer. An employer is required to protect its employees pursuant to the Workers’ Compensation Statute .... The employer then protects the general public by purchasing a liability insurance policy. Because employees are already protected by workers’ compensation, the insurance policy bought to protect the general public generally specifically excludes coverage for injuries covered by workers’ compensation. The insurance policy premium would necessarily be higher were this not so.

Aetna Fire Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Williams, 422 So.2d 7, 9 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). See also Webb v. Am. Fire & Cas. Co., 148 Fla. 714, 5 So.2d 252 (1941); 8 Couch on Insurance § 115:26 (3d ed. 2008).

We reverse the final summary declaratory judgment and remand for the entry of a judgment in favor of Mercury establishing that there is no coverage under the policy for Bautista’s lawsuit against Caballero’s estate.

WARNER and LEVINE, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw