COMMERCIAL STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLANT,
v.
AUSTIN KANE MILLER AND Y & S CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1973-03-08
No. Q-339
WIGGINTON, J., and POWELL, GIL-LIS E., Associate Judge, concur.
274 So. 2d 588 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1973) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 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

Commercial Standard Insurance Company appealed an order denying its motion to intervene in a dismissed negligence lawsuit and granting the plaintiff's motion to quash the insurer's notice of workmen's compensation lien. The court held that the insurer had no right to intervene because the injured employee had initiated suit within one year of injury, and the insurer's only statutory right was to participate in post-judgment proceedings to claim a pro rata share of any recovery.


Holding

No. The insurance company had no right to intervene because the injured employee instituted suit against the tortfeasor within one year of the injury, and any right of subrogation was limited to post-judgment proceedings. The notice of payment did not constitute a motion to intervene, and intervention was not available after the case was dismissed.


Headnotes

[1] A party seeking to intervene in a lawsuit must do so while the case is still pending.

[2] A notice of payment of workmen's compensation benefits does not constitute a motion to intervene.

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Key Quotes

“Subrogation on the part of an insurance carrier in a Florida workmen's compensation case is solely that provided by statute. Under the facts of this case, the injured employee in his own behalf instituted suit against the alleged tortfeasor within one year after the incident and, therefore, the insurance company possessed no right of intervention even if it had paid compensation benefits pursuant to the Florida law.”

Establishes the controlling legal principle that an insurer's subrogation rights are statutory and limited, and that when an employee sues within one year, the insurer has no intervention rights.

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Facts & Procedural History

Miller, an employee of a Texas corporation, was injured on September 13, 1969, while delivering pipe on premises of Y & S Construction Company in Ocal…

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Opinion of the Court
RAWLS, Acting Chief Judge.

RAWLS, Acting Chief Judge.

Appellant, Commercial Standard Insurance Co., appeals from an order denying its motion to intervene and granting appel-lees’ motion to quash notice of workmen’s compensation benefits. The insurance company seeks to recover a “pro rata” share of workmen’s compensation benefits paid to appellee Miller.

Miller, an employee of C & H Transportation Company, a Texas corporation, was injured on September 13, 1969, on the premises of Y & S Construction Company at Ocala, Florida, while he was delivering a load of pipe. The injury was caused by the alleged negligence of a forklift operator employed by Y & S, the Ocala firm.

Miller instituted suit in the circuit court of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Florida against Y & S to recover damages for the injuries he sustained. Commercial Standard filed in the Circuit Court an instru*589ment entitled “Notice of Payment of Workmen’s Compensation Benefits”, wherein it stated that it had paid to Miller . . compensation and medical benefits, under the provisions of Chapter 440, Florida Statutes, for injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment by employer, . . .” and claimed a lien upon any recovery had by Miller from Y & S. Subsequently, Miller and Y & S stipulated to a dismissal of their lawsuit with prejudice.

Two days after dismissal of the aforementioned lawsuit, Miller moved to quash the insurance company’s notice of payment of workmen’s compensation benefits on the grounds that the compensation payments were made pursuant to Texas law and, thus, the Florida workmen’s compensation law was not applicable. The insurance company immediately countered with a motion to intervene in the then dismissed lawsuit between Miller and Y & S for the purpose of protecting its right of subrogation pursuant to the law of Texas. The trial court granted Miller’s motion to quash and denied the insurance company’s motion to intervene; hence this appeal.

The insurance company argues that it had a right to intervene in the lawsuit between Miller and Y & S, and that its notice of payment of compensation, a copy of which was served upon Miller, put all parties on notice as to its interest in the litigation; thus, it was error to permit a dismissal of the cause without giving it notice. This contention is without merit. Subrogation on the part of an insurance carrier in a Florida workmen’s compensation case is solely that provided by statute. Under the facts of this case, the injured employee in his own behalf instituted suit against the alleged tortfeasor within one year after the incident and, therefore, the insurance company possessed no right of intervention even if it had paid compensation benefits pursuant to the Florida law.1 The insurance company by its “Notice of Payment of Workmen’s Compensation Benefits” preserved only unto itself the statutory right of participating in a post judgment proceeding for the purpose of asserting its claim to a “pro rata” share of the proceeds of any recovery had by Miller, the injured employee, pursuant to the Florida law. It did not serve as a motion to intervene. Here, the insurance company first sought to intervene in a cause of action that had been dismissed;2 there being no pending case, intervention was not available.3 Any right appellant had to sub-rogation was not timely asserted.

The judgment appealed is affirmed.

WIGGINTON, J., and POWELL, GIL-LIS E., Associate Judge, concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • …alty Co. v. Smith, 272 So. 2d 517 (Fla.1973); Brinson v. Southeastern Utilities Service Co., 72 So. 2d 37 (Fla.1954); Fidelity & Casualty Company of New York v. Bedingfield, 60 So. 2d 489, 495 (Fla.1952); Commercial Standard Insurance Co. v. Miller, 274 So. 2d 588 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973), and, in order to avail itself of the benefits conferred by statute, the insurer must comply with the rules and conditions stated therein, Cook Motor Co. v. Vaughn, 189 So. 2d 536 (Fla. 1st DCA 1966); Security Mutual Casualty Co.…
  • Saunders v. Alois, 604 So. 2d 18 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992)
    …emplate is that after recovery of a judgment the carrier is entitled to its pro rata share. The rights of a compensation carrier to recover in subrogation for benefits paid is only what is provided by statute. Commercial Standard Ins. Co. v. Miller, 274 So. 2d 588 (Fla. 1st DCA1973). Therefore, unless the appellee’s settlement with the worker’s compensation carrier complied with the statute, it may not have been effective to extinguish any right of recovery. That of course was the risk appellee took in settli…

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