American National Property and Casualty Company v. Gulf Coast Aerial, LLC

• Court: District Court, S.D. Alabama
• Decided: April 22, 2021
• Docket: 1:19-cv-00198
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION AMERICAN NATIONAL PROPERTY, ) AND CASUALTY COMPANY, ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:19-cv-198-KD-N ) GULF COAST AERIAL, LLC f/k/a ) Gulf Coast Aerial Advertising, LLC et al., ) Defendants. ) JUDGMENT In accordance with the Order granting summary judgment issued March 31, 2021 (Doc. 72), itis ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that judgment is entered in favor of Plaintiff American National Property and Casualty Company, and against Defendants.! DONE and ORDERED this the 22nd day of April 2021. /s/ Kristi K. DuBose KRISTI K. DuBOSE CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

' This Court’s previous Order, Doc. 30, granted Defendants’ Motions to Stay (Does. 12, 17) “until further order of the Court.” Accordingly, on the basis of the Court’s order on the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment (Doc. 72), the Court sua sponte lifts the stay as to the duty to indemnify. Where a court determines that an insurer owes no duty to defend its insured in a particular matter, that determination is necessarily dispositive of the narrower duty to indemnify, as well. See Trailer Bridge, Inc. v. Illinois Nat'l Ins. Co., 657 F.3d 1135, 1146 (11th Cir. 2011) (“[A] court's determination that the insurer has no duty to defend requires a finding that there is no duty to indemnify.”’); Essex Ins. Co. v. Foley, 827 F.Supp.2d 1326, 1331 (S.D. Ala. 2011) (“as recent Eleventh Circuit precedent confirms, a judicial determination of no duty to defend compels a finding of no duty to indemnify”). Because this Court determined Plaintiff American National Property and Casualty Company does not have a duty to defend, it necessarily does not have a duty to indemnify. See generally (Doc. 72).