Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. River Manor Condominium Ass'n

125 So. 3d 846, 2013 WL 1441294, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 5729, 38 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D 820
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 10, 2013
DocketNo. 4D12-901
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 125 So. 3d 846 (Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. River Manor Condominium Ass'n) 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
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. River Manor Condominium Ass'n, 125 So. 3d 846, 2013 WL 1441294, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 5729, 38 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D 820 (Fla. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

HANZMAN, MICHAEL, Associate Judge.

Appellant, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”), appeals the trial court’s final judgment confirming an appraisal award. Citizens claims that the final judgment improperly awarded the ap-pellee damages for: (a) property excluded under its policies, and (b) amounts that should have been deducted from the award by application of defenses the trial court refused to consider. We agree in part and reverse.

Facts and Procedural History

The material facts are not in dispute. Appellee, River Manor Condominium Association, Inc. (“River Manor”), operates a residential condominium complex consisting of three buildings — A, B and C — each of which were separately insured by Citizens at the time of Hurricane Wilma. When the parties were unable to agree on the extent of the damage caused by the storm, they participated in a mandatory appraisal process, resulting in an award which specified the total loss sustained by each building and the exterior common [848]*848elements, as follows: Building A ($1,755,703.50); Building B ($1,839,556.45); Building C ($1,589,157.29); Exterior Common Elements ($1,253,278.84). The appraisers were not charged with the task of deciding — nor did they purport to decide— any coverage issues. Their sole responsibility was to ascertain the amount of damage caused by the insured peril. See Fla. Ins. Guar. Ass’n, Inc. v. Olympus Ass’n, Inc., 34 So.3d 791, 794 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010).

The policies issued by Citizens each exclude from coverage “other structures on the demised locations, set apart from the building by clear space,” including such things as carports, cabanas, swimming pools, Jacuzzis, piers, seawalls, bridges, ramps, walks, decks, patios and similar structures. Also excluded from coverage are trees, shrubs, plants and other landscaping. The parties do not dispute that the appraisal award in the amount of $1,253,278.84 for “exterior common elements” represents compensation for damage caused to such excluded items. If this case turned on a simple application of the controlling insurance contracts it would therefore end here. See, e.g., Graber v. Clarendon Nat’l Ins. Co., 819 So.2d 840, 842 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002) (“Interpretation of insurance policy language is a matter of law....”); Sherman v. Transamerica Life Ins. Co., 475 F.App’x 733, 736 (11th Cir.2012) (“ ‘Florida’s public policy is that contracts, including insurance contracts, must be enforced as written.’ ” (citation omitted)).

This case, however, is not so simple because (a) each policy contains a provision requiring that it be amended to “conform” to any conflicting statutes of. the State where the property is located; and (b) River Manor claims that Citizens’ exclusions “conflict” with section 718.111(11), Florida Statutes (2005), because that statute — and in particular subsection (ll)(b)— requires insurers that issue condominium policies to provide coverage for “[a]ll portions of the condominium property located outside the units,” and “[a]ll portions of the condominium property for which the declaration of condominium requires coverage by the association.” § 718.111(ll)(b), Fla. Stat. (2005). Based upon this supposed “conflict,” River Manor says the policies must be “amended” to delete the exclusions pursuant to the conformance clauses which provide that:

Any terms of this policy which are in conflict with the statutes of the State wherein the property is located are amended to conform to such statutes ....

There is no doubt that River Man- or’s properties are located in Florida, and the exclusions are “terms” that the conformance clauses would require be amended if in “conflict” with the statutes of this State. The only question is whether the exclusions in fact conflict with section 718.111(ll)(b).1 Finding that section [849]*849718.111(11)(b) in fact imposes a mandatory insurance obligation on carriers, and that a “conflict” therefore existed between Citizens’ policy “exclusions” and the statute, the trial court granted summary judgment — and thereafter entered final judgment — awarding the amounts the appraisal attributed to the otherwise excluded items. We review that decision de novo as it raises a matter of statutory interpretation. Heart of Adoptions, Inc. v. J.A., 963 So.2d 189, 194 (Fla.2007).

Citizens also claims that certain items contained in the appraisal awards should not have been included in the trial court’s judgment because: (a) River Manor agreed to remove them from the awards; (b) the items were duplicates of other amounts awarded; or (c) the items, such as interior doors, baseboards, light fixtures, and other property within the par-ametrical boundaries of the units, were the unit owners’ responsibility. The trial court refused to address these issues, accepting River Manor’s contention that doing so would require it to improperly consider extrinsic evidence and look beyond the face of the appraisal award. It therefore granted River Manor’s motion for summary judgment on these issues, and eventually entered a final judgment for the amounts assessed in the appraisal, less the amounts previously paid. Our review of an order granting summary judgment is also de novo. See DeLeon v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., 98 So.3d 96, 97 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012).

Citizens’ Policy Exclusions Do Not Conflict With Section 718.111(ll)(b), Florida Statutes (2005)

In matters of statutory construction it is fundamental that “legislative intent is the polestar by which the court must be guided-” State v. Webb, 398 So.2d 820, 824 (Fla.1981); see also Princeton Homes, Inc. v. Morgan, 38 So.3d 207, 210-11 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). To ascertain that intent courts consider a variety of factors “including the language used, the subject matter, the purpose designed to be accomplished, and all other relevant and proper matters.” Badaraco v. Suncoast Towers v. Assocs., 676 So.2d 502, 503 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996) (citing Am. Bakeries Co. v. Haines City, 131 Fla. 790, 180 So. 524, 532 (1938)); see also Bautista v. State, 863 So.2d 1180, 1185 (Fla.2003) (“ ‘To discern legislative intent, courts must consider the statute as a whole, including the evil to be corrected, the language, title, and history of its enactment, and the state of law already in existence on the statute.’ ” (citation omitted)).

It is of course true that a “statute must be given its plain and obvious meaning.” Holly v. Auld, 450 So.2d 217, 219 (Fla.1984) (quoting A.R. Douglass, Inc. v. McRainey, 102 Fla. 1141, 137 So. 157, 159 (1931)). If the “language of the statute is clear and unambiguous and conveys a clear and definite meaning,.there is no occasion for resorting to the rules of statutory interpretation and construction.... ” Id. (quoting A.R. Douglass, 137 So. at 159); see also Kingsway Amigo Ins. Co. v. Ocean Health, Inc., 63 So.3d 63, 66 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011) (same). That does not, however, mean that parts — or in this case sub-parts — of a statute should be read in isolation. Rather, “[ejvery statute must be read as a whole with meaning ascribed to every portion and due regard given to the semantic and contextual interrelationship between its parts.” Forsythe v. Longboat Key Beach Erosion Control Dist., 604 [850]*850So.2d 452, 455 (Fla.1992) (quoting Fleischman v. Dep’t of Prof'l Regulation, 441 So.2d 1121, 1123 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
125 So. 3d 846, 2013 WL 1441294, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 5729, 38 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D 820, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/citizens-property-insurance-corp-v-river-manor-condominium-assn-fladistctapp-2013.