Aperm of Fla., Inc. v. Trans-Coastal Maint. Co.

505 So. 2d 459
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedFebruary 11, 1987
Docket85-2144
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 505 So. 2d 459 (Aperm of Fla., Inc. v. Trans-Coastal Maint. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aperm of Fla., Inc. v. Trans-Coastal Maint. Co., 505 So. 2d 459 (Fla. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

505 So.2d 459 (1987)

APERM OF FLORIDA, INC., and Travelers Insurance Company, Appellants/Cross Appellees,
v.
TRANS-COASTAL MAINTENANCE COMPANY, a Florida Corporation, Appellee/Cross Appellant.

No. 85-2144.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

February 11, 1987.
Rehearing and Certification Denied May 4, 1987.

*460 Steven R. Berger and William Liston of Steven R. Berger, P.A., Miami, Law Offices of James O. Nelson and Peterson & Fogarty, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellants/cross appellees.

Robert L. Vessel, Daniel P. Mitchell and Leslie C. Riviere of Mitchell, Alley, Rywant and Vessel, P.A., Tampa, for appellee/cross appellant.

GLICKSTEIN, Judge.

The corporate defendant and its insurer appeal the judgment for attorney's fees, and the plaintiff cross appeals the amount of the judgment for attorney's fees. On the main appeal we affirm the judgment for attorney's fees as to the insurer and reverse as to the corporate defendant. However, we reverse the amount of attorney's fees and remand with direction to apply the procedure, recited in Florida Patient's Compensation Fund v. Rowe, 472 So.2d 1145 (Fla. 1985), which is to be applied where a contingent fee contract exists.

Trans-Coastal Maintenance Company (TCM) filed suit against Aperm and its insurer, Travelers Insurance Company, for damages resulting from a defect in a product furnished TCM by Aperm. The defendants filed separate answers and affirmative defenses. Travelers filed a cross-claim for declaratory judgment respecting the insurance coverage it had afforded.

According to TCM, prior to trial TCM moved to amend its complaint to add a claim for attorneys' fees, claiming TCM was an insured under an endorsement to the Travelers policy and therefore, as a first party insured, could claim attorney's fees under section 627.428, Florida Statutes (1983). The court took the motion to amend under consideration, and no actual amendment was ever filed.

Eventually, the trial court rendered partial summary judgment in favor of TCM against Aperm on the issue of liability, and in favor of and against Travelers on others. Subsequently, trial was held. Pursuant to the verdict on the question of damages, the court entered final judgment in favor of TCM against Aperm and Travelers in the amount of $193,516. The judgment has been satisfied.

TCM filed a motion for attorney's fees. The court entered an order for attorney's fees in favor of TCM against both Aperm and Travelers in the amount of $22,075. Aperm and Travelers timely noticed their appeal, and TCM cross appealed.

TCM is a roofing contractor doing business in Palm Beach County. Aperm of Florida, Inc. contracted with TCM in 1981, giving TCM an exclusive license to sell a roofing product called Aperm in south Florida. The contract contained a five year non-leak warranty. The product failed after being applied to customers' roofs. TCM was required to correct the defects in the work it had done, thus incurring damage and expenses.

Aperm had a liability insurance policy from Travelers, issued in Columbia, South Carolina. This policy named as insureds Roof Industries, Inc., Aperm Southeast, Inc., and Aperm of Florida, Inc. with a Columbia address and a Columbia mailing address. The type of liability alleged by TCM was covered by this policy.

An endorsement to the policy, labeled "Additional Insured (Vendors — Limited Form") amended the definition contained in the policy of "persons insured" to include "any person or organization (herein referred to as `vendor'), as an insured, but only with respect to the distribution or sale in the regular course of the vendor's business of the named insured's products." The issues, restated are as follows:

APPEAL
I. Whether the trial court erred in applying section 627.428, Florida Statutes, because the subject policy of insurance, according to appellant, was not delivered in Florida nor issued for delivery in Florida. We conclude it did not.
II. Whether the trial court erred in awarding appellee attorney's fees in appellee's action against a named insured and its insurer, as section 627.428 is not *461 applicable in favor of a third party claimant, which was appellee's proper status. We conclude it did as to the insured but not the insurer.
CROSS APPEAL
III. Whether the trial court erred in disregarding appellee/cross appellant's contingent fee contract with its counsel, and awarding a $125 per hour fee. We conclude it did.

I

DELIVERY

Section 627.428, Florida Statutes (1983), states in pertinent part:

(1) Upon the rendition of a judgment or decree by any of the courts of this state against an insurer and in favor of any named or omnibus insured or the named beneficiary under a policy or contract executed by the insurer, the trial court or, in the event of an appeal in which the insured or beneficiary prevails, the appellate court shall adjudge or decree against the insurer and in favor of the insured or beneficiary a reasonable sum as fees or compensation for the insured's or beneficiary's attorney prosecuting the suit in which the recovery is had.

This provision has not changed appreciably in meaning — though the exact verbiage has changed — in many years. Cf. § 625.08, Fla. Stat. (1957).

Appellants point out that the following provision of section 627.401 governs part II of chapter 627, in which part section 627.428 appears: "No provision of this part of this chapter applies to ... (2) Policies or contracts not issued for delivery in this state nor delivered in this state, except as otherwise provided in this code."

Appellants contend that on the face of the policy, it was issued other than in Florida for delivery other than in Florida, since Aperm's address and mailing address, stated in the policy, were both in Columbia, South Carolina; therefore the attorney's fee provision found at section 627.428 is inapplicable in the instant case.

Appellee responds by asserting that the insurance policy involved in the present case was issued for delivery in the state of Florida. Appellee contends that according to case law a policy issued in another state but intended to cover an insured that maintains a place of business in Florida is, if the situs of the risk is known to the insurer, constructively delivered in Florida or issued for delivery there.

In Gillen v. United Services Automobile Association, 300 So.2d 3 (Fla. 1974), an automobile insurance policy had been issued in New Hampshire and delivered there when the insureds were residents there. Subsequently the insureds moved to Florida and notified the insurer thereof. Still later the insureds were in an accident in which the husband was killed and the wife seriously injured.

At issue in Gillen was not the applicability of the attorney's fee provision of significance in the instant case, but whether New Hampshire or Florida law should apply. The policy had an "other insurance clause" which was proper under New Hampshire law but against public policy in Florida. The Florida Supreme Court held that Florida law would govern interpretation of the contract; although the contract had originally been issued and delivered in New Hampshire, the risk covered by the policy was subsequently centered in Florida with the insurer's knowledge. There were only minimal contacts with New Hampshire in terms of actual risk, whereas Florida had a significant relationship to the contract.

Appellee cites East Coast Insurance Company v.

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Bluebook (online)
505 So. 2d 459, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aperm-of-fla-inc-v-trans-coastal-maint-co-fladistctapp-1987.