STATE FARM FLORIDA INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLANT,
v.
FRED PHILLIPS AND CAROL PHILLIPS, APPELLEES

Fla. 5th DCA | 2014-02-14
No. 5D13-583
SAWAYA and EVANDER, JJ., concur.
134 So. 3d 505 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2014) Caution
Cited by 17 cases

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

State Farm appealed a trial court order requiring it to pay replacement costs for subsurface sinkhole repairs before the insureds contracted for those repairs. The Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed, holding that the sinkhole loss settlement clause in the policy, which incorporated statutory language, permitted State Farm to withhold payment for subsurface repairs until a contract for repairs was entered into.


Holding

The court held that State Farm could withhold payment for the replacement costs of subsurface repairs until the Phillipses entered into a contract for those repairs. The sinkhole loss settlement clause was not ambiguous, and State Farm's incorporation of the statutory language into the policy distinguished this case from prior precedent and authorized State Farm to exercise the holdback provision.


Headnotes

[1] A specific provision in an insurance policy controls over a general provision.

[2] An insurer may limit payment for sinkhole loss to actual cash value until the policyholder contracts for repairs, if the policy clearly elects this statutory payment meth…

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Key Quotes

“we may limit our payment to the actual cash value of the sinkhole loss ... until you enter into a contract for the performance of building stabilization or foundation repairs. After you enter into a contract, we will pay the amounts necessary to begin and perform such repairs as the work is performed and as expenses are incurred.”

This quote from the sinkhole loss settlement clause in the policy establishes the key contractual language permitting State Farm to withhold payment until a contract for repairs was entered into.

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Facts & Procedural History

In July 2010, State Farm issued a homeowner's insurance policy to Fred and Carol Phillips that included both a general loss payment clause and a separ…

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Opinion of the Court
ORFINGER, J.

ORFINGER, J.

State Farm Florida Insurance Company appeals the trial court’s order requiring it to pay replacement costs for subsurface sinkhole repairs before its insureds, Fred and Carol Phillips, contracted for the necessary repairs. We reverse.

The facts are not in dispute. In July 2010, State Farm issued the Phillipses a homeowner’s insurance policy that contained a general loss payment clause as well as a separate sinkhole and catastrophic ground cover collapse coverage clause. The general loss payment clause reads, in pertinent part:

8. Loss Payment. We will adjust all losses with you. We will pay you unless some other person is named in the policy or is legally entitled to receive payment. Loss will be payable:
a. 20 days after we receive proof of loss and reach agreement with you; or
b. 60 days after we receive your proof of loss and:
(1) there is an entry of a final judgment; or
(2) there is a filing of an appraisal award with us.

The sinkhole and catastrophic ground" cover collapse coverage clause included a loss *507settlement provision, which reads, in pertinent part:

SECTION 1 — LOSS SETTLEMENT The following is added:
COVERAGE A — DWELLING and COVERAGE B — PERSONAL PROPERTY

If a covered loss resulting from a sinkhole is verified and the dwelling or personal property is Insured on the basis of replacement cost:

1. we may limit our payment to the actual cash value of the sinkhole loss ... until you enter into a contract for the performance of building stabilization or foundation repairs. After you enter into a contract, we will pay the amounts necessary to begin and perform such repairs as the work is performed and as expenses are incurred. We may not require you to advance payment for such repairs....

In February 2011, a sinkhole damaged the Phillipses’ home. Following a dispute over the amount that State Farm owed, the Phillipses sued to compel an appraisal. The ensuing appraisal established the amount of the loss, including amounts for building stabilization and foundation repairs. The Phillipses moved for judicial confirmation of the appraisal award. State Farm responded that the sinkhole loss settlement clause and section 627.707(5)(b), Florida Statutes (2010),1 on which that clause was modeled, authorized it to withhold partial payment for subsurface repairs until the Phillipses had contracted for those repairs. The trial court disagreed with State Farm and ruled that the statute and the sinkhole loss settlement clause in the policy were permissive, and did not allow State Farm to withhold payment for the replacement costs for subsurface repairs. State Farm appeals that order.

We review the trial court’s interpretation of an insurance contract and statutes de novo. E.g., Kingsway Amigo Ins. Co. v. Ocean Health, 63 So.3d 63, 66 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011); Biltmore Constr. Co. v. Owners Ins. Co., 842 So.2d 947, 949 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). Legislative intent is the polestar of statutory interpretation, but when a statute is clear or unambiguous, the reviewing court should not resort to the rules of statutory instruction. Instead, the reviewing court should give effect to the statute’s express terms, and its reasonable or obvious implications. E.g., Kingsway, 63 So.3d at 66-67. The same rules apply to the interpretation of insurance policies. See, e.g., Discover Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Beach Cars of W. Palm, Inc., 929 So.2d 729, 733 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006). The intent of the parties governs, but “[ejourts should resort to complex rules of construction to determine coverage or the applicability of exclusions only when the language used in the policy is ambiguous or otherwise susceptible of more than one meaning. Absent such factors courts should apply the plain meaning of words and phrases used in a policy of insurance.” *508 Arias v. Affirmative Ins. Co., 944 So.2d 1195, 1197 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006) (quoting Se. Fire Ins. Co. v. Lehman, 443 So.2d 408, 408-09 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984)). “If possible, conflicting provisions of a contract are to be read in such a way as to give a reasonable interpretation and effect to all provisions.” Beach Cars, 929 So.2d at 738; see also U.S. Fire Ins. Co. v. J.S.U.B., Inc., 979 So.2d 871, 877 (Fla.2007) (requiring courts to endeavor to give effect to every provision). Specific provisions of a contract control over general conditions. Underwriters of Lloyds of London v. Cape Publ’ns, Inc., 63 So.3d 892, 896 (Fla. 5th DCA 2011) (citing Colonial Bank, N.A. v. Taylor Morrison Servs., Inc., 10 So.3d 653, 655 (Fla. 5th DCA 2009)). This is equally true with regard to insurance contracts. See Herring v. Horace Mann Ins. Co., 795 So.2d 209, 212 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001) (holding, when provisions of insurance policy conflict, “[w]e recognize the clear rule of construction that a specific provision in a policy governs over a general provision”).

In ordering State Farm to pay for the replacement costs for subsurface repairs, the trial court relied on our holding in State Farm Florida Insurance Co. v. Nichols, 21 So.3d 904 (Fla. 5th DCA 2009). After a sinkhole damaged the Nicholses’ home, they asserted a claim against State Farm, their homeowner’s insurance company. Following an appraisal, State Farm refused to pay the entire amount designated as subsurface damages, contending, as they do here, that the entire amount was not due until the Nicholses entered into a contract for those repairs. The Nicholses’ policy contained a general loss payment clause identical to the one found here. However, their policy did not incorporate the separate sinkhole loss settlement clause authorized by section 627.507(5)(b), and found in the Phillipses’ policy. Finding the statute to be permissive, we held that State Farm could not take advantage of the alternate payment methodology that the statute allowed because the policy did not incorporate the statutory payment method. Nichols, 21 So.3d at 905. Our holding in Nichols is consistent with Florida case law interpreting other statutes which permit an insurer to limit payment if the insurance policy clearly and unambiguously elects an alternative statutory payment method. See, e.g., Geico Gen. Ins. Co. v. Virtual Imaging Servs., Inc., — So.3d -, -, 2013 WL 3332385, 38 Fla. L. Weekly S517, S517, S521 (Fla. July 3, 2013); Kingsway, 63 So.3d at 67 (citing Maryland Cas. Co. v. Murphy, 342 So.2d 1051, 1052 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)); see also Geico Indem. Co. v. Virtual Imaging Servs., Inc., 79 So.3d 55, 57 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011) (citing Kingsway, 63 So.3d at 67-68).

In the instant case, section 627.707(5)(b) gave State Farm the authority to withhold payment for the replacement costs of the necessary subsurface repairs until the Phillipses contracted for those repairs. State Farm incorporated the statute’s language into the policy, which distinguishes this case from Nichols, and allows State Farm to exercise the holdback authorized by the statute. See Geico Gen. Ins. Co., 38 Fla. L. Weekly at S521, — So.3d at-(requiring election in policy of statutorily authorized payment limit); Kingsway, 63 So.3d at 67 (same). The policy is not ambiguous. To construe the policy otherwise would render the sinkhole loss settlement provision meaningless.

For these reasons, we reverse the trial court’s judgment to the extent that it required State Farm to pay the replacement cost for stabilization and foundation repairs before the Phillipses entered into a contract for those repairs.

*509AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part; REMANDED.

SAWAYA and EVANDER, JJ., concur.


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Cited By

  • Fla. Ins. Guar. Ass'n v. Branco, 148 So. 3d 488 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014)
    …n ordering the parties to appraisal because their dispute with the Brancos is over the “method of repair” rather than the “amount of loss.” Interpretation of insurance policies is reviewed de novo, e.g., State Farm Florida Insurance Co. v. Phillips, 134 So. 3d 505, 507 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014), as are orders compelling appraisal, e.g., Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. Demetrescu, 137 So. 3d 500, 502 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014). Appraisals are creatures of contract and the subject or scope of appraisal depends on the…
  • Fla. Ins. Guar. Ass'n, Inc. v. Bernard, 140 So. 3d 1023 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014)
    …such costs in her motion for partial summary judgment, and (2) Bernard’s policy expressly precluded payment for the subsurface repair costs unless and until she contracted for the performance of the repairs. Cf. State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. v. Phillips, 134 So. 3d 505 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014) (reversing order requiring insurer to pay subsurface repair costs because the policy gave the insurer the authority to withhold payment for such costs until the insured contracted for the repairs). . The creation of section 631.…
  • Tower Hill Select Ins. Co. v. McKEE, 151 So. 3d 2 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014)
    …ew the trial court’s ruling on a motion for summary judgment and interpretation of an insurance contract and statutes de novo. See Volusia Cnty. v. Aberdeen at Ormond Beach, L.P., 760 So. 2d 126, 130 (Fla.2000); State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. v. Phillips, 134 So. 3d 505, 507 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014). This appeal involves a coverage dispute between McKee and Tower Hill concerning sinkhole damage to McKee’s home. In March 2010, McKee timely filed a claim for property damage to his home related to a sinkhole. In July 2010…

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