Allen v. Estate of Carman

281 So. 2d 317
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJuly 31, 1973
Docket41352
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 281 So. 2d 317 (Allen v. Estate of Carman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allen v. Estate of Carman, 281 So. 2d 317 (Fla. 1973).

Opinion

281 So.2d 317 (1973)

Mrs. John W. ALLEN, Appellant,
v.
The ESTATE of Charles Francis CARMAN; Mrs. Sylvia Carman, Executrix, et al., Appellees.

No. 41352.

Supreme Court of Florida.

July 31, 1973.

*318 Warren A. Rosser and Eugene R. Kiser, for appellant.

James A. Smith, and Daniel Draper, Jr., Wicker, Smith, Pyszka, Blomqvist & Davant, Miami, for appellees.

McCAIN, Justice.

Pursuant to Rule 4.61, F.A.R., 32 F.S.A., this case is before us on certificate from the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, reported at 446 F.2d 1276 (1971), in an appeal from a decision of the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, granting summary judgment for defendant in a wrongful death action.

The certifying court has furnished us with the following statement of facts and issues in the cause:

"In December 1967 Charles Francis Carman, a painting contractor, owned and operated the Glaze Coating Company from his home in Lithonia, Georgia. He employed John W. Allen as a painter.[3] On December 28, 1967, while both men were living and working in Georgia, Carman secured a workmen's compensation insurance policy written by the Hartford Accident and Indemnity *319 Company and accepted by Carman in Georgia. This policy was in effect on August 26, 1968, the date of the airplane crash which is the subject of this suit.
"[3] There is no evidence to indicate whether at this time Allen was Carman's only employee.
"In June 1968 Carman moved to Sarasota, Florida where he continued to operate his painting business. Allen also moved to Florida[4] and was working for Carman in Florida during the week immediately preceding the accident.[5] Although Allen had previously driven his own truck to the job site at Live Oak, Florida from his home in Sarasota, upon returning to Sarasota he had left the truck with Mrs. Allen for repairs.
"[4] The parties differ as to whether Allen was domiciled in Florida or whether he merely resided there on a temporary or semi-permanent basis.
"[5] It was stipulated that Allen was employed by Carman on August 26, 1968.
"On August 26, 1968 an aircraft owned and operated by Carman and carrying Allen as its only other occupant crashed shortly after take off from the airport at Bradenton, Florida.[6] Both men were killed. At the time of the crash, in addition to the workmen's compensation policy, there was in effect an Aircraft Legal Liability Policy written by the Ranger Insurance Company covering Carman.
"[6] The evidence is sketchy as to whether the eventual termination point of the flight was to be the job site at Live Oak, some 200 miles distant, where Carman and Allen were then working."
"Shortly after the crash Mrs. Allen moved to her parents' home in North Carolina. Thereafter Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company made voluntary payments to her totaling approximately $4500 during the period December 12, 1968 to March 1970, at which time Mrs. Allen notified the company that she would not accept further payments. She retained all payments made up to that time. She never filed a claim with the Florida Industrial Commission for workmen's compensation benefits and neither requested nor received a hearing before the Commission. The Commission has made no award to Mrs. Allen.
"On November 5, 1969 Mrs. Allen filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida for the wrongful death of her husband against the estate of Carman and his executrix, alleging that death was proximately caused by the negligence of Carman as pilot of the aircraft. Ranger Insurance Company intervened as a defendant and asserted as a defense the exclusivity of the workmen's compensation remedy as a bar to Mrs. Allen's wrongful death action. Ranger also defended on the additional ground that an `employee exclusion' provision ... of its policy excluded coverage of Allen in any event. Its motion to add Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company as a party defendant was denied.
"The plaintiff moved for partial summary judgment, claiming that the Florida Workmen's Compensation Law was inapplicable because Carman did not have a minimum of three employees and had posted no notice of an intention to cover an excluded employee as required by 15 F.S.A. § 440.04(2)... . The plaintiff also contended that the `employee exclusion' provision of the Ranger policy was inapplicable because Allen was not within the scope of his employment ... at the time of the accident, that the airplane transportation had been furnished as a matter of convenience rather than as part of the employment contract, and that the policy's definition of `passenger' did not exclude coverage of those employees who were neither pilot nor crew.
"The defendants and intervenor also filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that the exclusive remedy of workmen's compensation barred the suit *320 under 15 F.S.A. § 440.11 and that § 440.04(3) ... dispensed with the requirement that an employer post notice that he had waived his exemption not to come within the Workmen's Compensation Law.[11]
"...
"[11] There was no proof that the § 440.04(2) notice had been posted. By summary judgment the trial court simply treated this as immaterial."
"The District Court denied the plaintiff's motions but granted defendants' motion for summary judgment, and this appeal followed.
"3. Questions to be Certified
"1. (a) Under Florida law may an employer with only one employee invoke the defense of exclusivity of workmen's compensation?
(b) If the answer to (a) is in the affirmative, may the employer assert the defense of exclusivity of workmen's compensation when
"(i) the employer has secured a valid workmen's compensation policy covering his one employee, but
"(ii) when the employer has not posted notice of his intention to cover his one employee?
"(c) If posting of notice is required for the defense of exclusivity, upon whom does the burden of proof rest — employer or employee — to establish posting?
"2. Assuming that the facts warrant a finding that the airplane was being used to transport Carman and Allen to the Live Oak job site or to some other job site or prospective job site, was Allen's death sustained in the course of his employment?[12]
"[12] 440.03 Application
"Every employer and every employee, unless otherwise specifically provided, shall be presumed to have accepted the provisions of this chapter, respectively to pay and accept compensation for injury or death, arising out of and in the course of employment, and shall be bound thereby, unless he shall have given prior to the injury, notice to the contrary as provided in § 440.05."
"3. In order for a workmen's compensation policy written in Georgia to be valid under the Florida Workmen's Compensation Law, need it be endorsed or otherwise approved by (i) the insurer, (ii) the Florida Industrial Commission or (iii) both?
"4.

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Bluebook (online)
281 So. 2d 317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allen-v-estate-of-carman-fla-1973.