LoCicero v. American Liberty Insurance Co.

489 So. 2d 81, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 987, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 7463
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 23, 1986
DocketNo. 85-449
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 489 So. 2d 81 (LoCicero v. American Liberty Insurance 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
LoCicero v. American Liberty Insurance Co., 489 So. 2d 81, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 987, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 7463 (Fla. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

CAMPBELL, Judge.

Appellants appeal the dismissal with prejudice of their action for declaratory relief. We reverse.

The trial court's final order of dismissal with prejudice was a final consequence of an earlier order which found that appellants’ cause of action necessitated the join-der of a Georgia domiciled tortfeasor pursuant to the requirements of Georgia law and section 627.727(6), Florida Statutes (1981). That prior order provided that absent the joinder of the foreign tortfeasor the action would be dismissed with prejudice. While appellants amended their cause of action to name the deceased Georgia tortfeasor’s personal representative, service of process was never issued and was, therefore, never effected.

The essence of appellants’ complaint for declaratory relief was to seek a declaratory judgment as to whether a policy of automobile liability insurance, issued by appellee to appellant Felix LoCicero, provided appellant with underinsured motorist coverage for the death of Sharon J. LoCicero, which resulted from an automobile accident in Macon, Georgia on October 10, 1981.

Appellants’ action was filed in the trial court below on June 22, 1982, when appel-lee denied their claim for underinsured motorist coverage. Appellee, coincidently and without knowledge of appellants’ action, filed a similar action seeking the same declaratory relief in the court below on June 25, 1982. The parties in both actions were identical except for the reversal of their relative position as parties plaintiff and defendant. The actions were consolidated for the purpose of trial. The matter proceeded to trial and trial was concluded prior to the dismissal for failure to join an indispensable party. The court below rendered no decision on the merits of the action.

The facts established below show that on October 10, 1981, Sharon J. LoCicero, the daughter of appellants Felix and Ann Lo-Cicero, was a passenger in an automobile driven by Dewey Gill. Their travel began and was scheduled to end in the State of Georgia. Sharon was living in the State of Georgia for the purpose of attending Mercer Law School located in Macon, Georgia. An accident occurred in which Sharon Lo-Cicero was killed. The accident involved a second vehicle driven by Dennis Shehee. Shehee was a resident of Georgia and his estate was administered in Georgia. It is undisputed that the sole cause of the accident was the negligence of Shehee.

Shehee had one policy of automobile liability insurance with liability limits of $50,-000/$100,000. Shehee died technically bankrupt.

Appellant Felix LoCicero’s policy of automobile liability insurance issued by appellee [83]*83charged separate premiums for each of four insured automobiles. Uninsured motorist coverage with basic limits of $100,-000/$300,000 was provided.

The policy was applied for in Tampa, the policy was purchased from an agent in Tampa, and the policy was delivered in Tampa. The appellants LoCicero were residents of Tampa, and the four automobiles insured were licensed in Florida.

At trial, appellant Felix LoCicero testified that Sharon LoCicero had a twin sister with whom she shared a room in the family home in Tampa, that each summer she lived at home and worked in the Tampa area, that at the time of her death, while she was a student at Mercer Law School, she kept numerous personal items at home and had no plans to establish any residence other than her father’s and that she had full and free use of the family home.

It is also undisputed that Sharon LoCice-ro was not a named insured, nor listed as a “unit driver” under her father’s policy of insurance. In fact, it is unrefuted that Sharon was specifically removed from the policy, at Mrs. LoCicero’s instruction since she was no longer at home. Additionally, Sharon, through her mother, applied for and held her own policy of insurance on her own car, with PIP coverage only.

After the conclusion of the trial, the trial court entered an order holding that Shehee, the deceased tortfeasor, was an indispensable party which must be joined in the action. The court gave appellants thirty days to join Shehee as a party to the action.

On February 14, 1985, the action was dismissed and this timely appeal followed. There is one other procedural fact that will be important to our conclusion in this matter. After Sharon LoCicero’s unfortunate death, appellants negotiated with the representatives of the negligent tortfeasor She-hee and his liability carrier. It became apparent that there were no assets available in Shehee’s estate except the $50,000 in liability insurance. Negotiations then took place between appellants and appellee seeking permission to settle with the tort-feasor’s estate for the limits of the liability policy. As a result of those negotiations, appellee, on June 7, 1982, communicated with appellants’ attorney, by letter, which stated as follows:

American Liberty has never denied that the policy written on Felix Locicero [sic] has Uninsured Motorist coverage, but we are taking the position that under the various facts and the authorities cited, that the insured is not entitled to recover under Underinsured Motorist coverage for the loss in question. You are taking the position that we are in error and we respect your position. Therefore, it would seem the only reasonable way to resolve this situation is by way of a Declaratory Judgment Action and we are taking steps at this time for an early Court decision in that regard. As for the waiver of our Underinsured Motorist subrogation claim, should the Courts hold we are required to respond under Underinsured Motorist coverage, I would suggest that you obtain an affidavit from the Cotton States’ insured relative to his assets. If he has none, then we will waive our subrogation claim. The matter of the affidavit was discussed in our telephone conversation and my May 18, 1982 letter. You indicated you were going to obtain that affidavit. To summarize again, we take the position that the insured is not entitled to recover under his policy for Underin-sured Motorist benefits for this loss, but if the Courts hold he is, then we will waive any U.M. subrogation claim if it can be shown by affidavit that the wrongdoer has no assets.
We feel the above position is the only position that we can take in this case. To date we have no evidence that the wrongdoer has any assets in excess of his $50,000.00 policy limit and therefore, it is impossible for us to make any decision other than set forth herein. (Emphasis supplied.)

The letter further contained a postscript which stated:

I just talked to Cotton States. They advised that they were of the opinion [84]*84that they had furnished you with an affidavit to the effect that their insured had no other policies of insurance and that he had no assets. If this is true there would seem to be no reason for us to not allow you to go ahead and settle with Cotton States for the 50,000. We can go ahead with the declaratory relative to the application of underinsured motorist coverage for this loss. (Emphasis supplied.)

While we can find no affidavit in the record as apparently contemplated by that letter, there are depositions which clearly establish that the tortfeasor had no assets with which to pay any claims relative to the accident except the liability policy.

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Bluebook (online)
489 So. 2d 81, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 987, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 7463, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/locicero-v-american-liberty-insurance-co-fladistctapp-1986.