Prime Property and Casualty Insurance Company v. Kepali Group, Inc.

136 F.4th 1021
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMay 2, 2025
Docket23-12518
StatusPublished

This text of 136 F.4th 1021 (Prime Property and Casualty Insurance Company v. Kepali Group, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Prime Property and Casualty Insurance Company v. Kepali Group, Inc., 136 F.4th 1021 (11th Cir. 2025).

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 23-12518 Document: 84-1 Date Filed: 05/02/2025 Page: 1 of 19

[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 23-12518 ____________________

PRIME PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, a foreign corporation, Plaintiff-Counter Defendant-Appellant-Cross Appellee, versus KEPALI GROUP, INC., YORDANI OLIVA RODRIGUEZ,

Defendants-Counter Claimants-Cross Claimants, Appellees,

JACQUELINE RONEY, JACKERLINE ROSE RONEY, USCA11 Case: 23-12518 Document: 84-1 Date Filed: 05/02/2025 Page: 2 of 19

2 Opinion of the Court 23-12518

Defendants-Appellees,

BROWN & BROWN OF FLORIDA, INC., NORMAN L. MORRIS,

Counter Defendants-Cross Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 9:21-cv-81787-WPD ____________________

Before JORDAN, LAGOA, and TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges. JORDAN, Circuit Judge: This case requires us to decide whether, under Florida law, a corporate vehicle was covered at the time of an accident under a commercial automobile insurance policy’s after-acquired auto pro- vision. I A Kepali Group procured and adjusted insurance for its fleet of vehicles through an insurance agent at Brown & Brown of Florida. Prime Property & Casualty Insurance Company issued a USCA11 Case: 23-12518 Document: 84-1 Date Filed: 05/02/2025 Page: 3 of 19

23-12518 Opinion of the Court 3

commercial automobile policy to Kepali for the period from Janu- ary 23, 2019, to January 23, 2020. Kepali paid an initial lump-sum premium for insuring its fleet of vehicles. Anticipating that vehi- cles could be added and dropped, the policy contained a “premium audit” provision allowing Prime to “compute the final premium” and bill Kepali for any outstanding “balance” (or issue any appro- priate credit or refund) once Prime calculated Kepali’s “actual ex- posures.” See D.E. 1-1 at 15. The policy also contained a provision titled “Owned Autos You Acquire After The Policy Begins.” That provision states, in relevant part, as follows: [A]n “auto” you acquire will be a covered “auto” for that coverage only if: a. We already cover all “autos” that you own for that coverage or it replaces an “auto” you previously owned that had that coverage; and b. You tell us within 30 days after you acquire it that you want us to cover it for that coverage. Id. at 8. This provision does not mention the payment of an addi- tional premium for an after-acquired vehicle. 1 On December 6, 2019, a 2009 Toyota Sienna owned by Ke- pali with a VIN ending in 3985 was involved in an accident while driven by Yordani Rodriguez. The passengers of the other car sued

1 It is undisputed that Kepali insured all its vehicles under the Prime policy. USCA11 Case: 23-12518 Document: 84-1 Date Filed: 05/02/2025 Page: 4 of 19

4 Opinion of the Court 23-12518

Kepali and Mr. Rodriguez for damages. The dispute in this case concerns insurance coverage for the 3985 Toyota. B On September 30, 2019, Kepali acquired the 3985 Toyota. Kepali also acquired two Mercedes vehicles. On October 3, 2019, Kepali notified Brown that it wanted to add the two Mercedes to its policy with Prime, and to add the 3985 Toyota to a separate pol- icy it had with Progressive. The following day, Brown sent the coverage request for the two Mercedes to Prime. In its email to Prime, Brown included a request that a 2009 Toyota Sienna with a VIN ending in 0079 be amended from vehicle #00002 to vehicle #00001 on the Prime policy. The 0079 Toyota was already listed as an insured vehicle on the Prime policy. Later that same day, Prime sent a quote to Brown request- ing payment of a $2,457 premium to add coverage for the two Mer- cedes and the 0079 Toyota. Kepali paid the premium and returned the signed quote, and Prime issued an endorsement for the two Mercedes and the 0079 Toyota. Brown emailed Kepali attaching the “endorsement for adding the two [M]ercedes . . . on to the pol- icy” and noting that “[a]n endorsement to add the Toyota should follow shortly.” While Brown was in the process of procuring an endorse- ment for the two Mercedes, Kepali had emailed Brown requesting to add the 3985 Toyota to the Prime policy instead of to the Pro- gressive policy. On October 4, 2019, Brown sent a request to Prime to add the 3985 Toyota to the Prime policy. USCA11 Case: 23-12518 Document: 84-1 Date Filed: 05/02/2025 Page: 5 of 19

23-12518 Opinion of the Court 5

On October 7, 2019, Prime sent a quote to Brown requesting payment of a $2,391 premium for coverage of the 3985 Toyota. The body of the email stated that the “[e]ndorsement cannot be processed without . . . [s]igned quote, and sufficient payment made payable to ‘EIB,’” and each page of the attachment stated that the “[p]remium must be received prior to the [e]ndorsement becoming effective.” In response, Brown emailed Prime stating: “We received the endorsement with the Toyota already listed on there. Please see attached.” According to Kepali and Mr. Rodriguez, Brown at- tached to this email the previous endorsement for the two Mer- cedes and the 0079 Toyota. 2 Kepali and Mr. Rodriguez allege that Prime never responded to Brown’s email. Brown did not send the quote to Kepali for sig- nature and payment. Prime never received a signed quote or a pay- ment of the premium, and never issued an endorsement adding the 3985 Toyota to the policy. But Brown nonetheless, and without

2 Prime had sent the previous endorsement to Brown before Brown requested

to add the 3985 Toyota to Kepali’s policy with Prime. It is undisputed that a Prime employee included the 0079 Toyota in the previous policy “based on her mistaken belief that Kepali’s request that the 0079 Toyota be amended from vehicle #00002 to vehicle #00001 on the Policy was a request to add that vehicle to the Policy.” D.E. 184 at 25–26. The district court found that the first endorsement “did not represent to Kepali that [Prime] added the 3985 Toyota to the Policy as it explicitly stated that it was adding the 0079 Toyota to the Policy.” Id. at 27. The parties do not challenge this finding on appeal. USCA11 Case: 23-12518 Document: 84-1 Date Filed: 05/02/2025 Page: 6 of 19

6 Opinion of the Court 23-12518

authority from Prime to do so, issued a certificate of insurance and auto id cards for the 3985 Toyota. C As noted earlier, Mr. Rodriguez was involved in an accident on December 6, 2019, while driving Kepali’s 3985 Toyota. Prime initiated the present action seeking a declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify Kepali and Mr. Rodriguez based on its as- sertion that the 3985 Toyota had never been added to the insurance policy. Kepali and Mr. Rodriguez counterclaimed against Prime and impleaded Brown, seeking a declaration that Brown was Prime’s agent and that Prime was required to provide coverage un- der the policy because Brown had told Kepali that the 3985 Toyota had been added. Kepali and Mr. Rodriguez also brought claims against Prime for reformation, promissory estoppel, breach of fidu- ciary duty, and negligent misrepresentation. At summary judgment, the district court ruled that Brown was acting as Kepali’s agent, not Prime’s, when attempting to pro- cure insurance for the 3985 Toyota. But the court nonetheless con- cluded that the 3985 Toyota was covered under the policy because the after-acquired auto provision only listed two conditions for coverage, both of which had been met: (1) Prime covered all of Ke- pali’s vehicles; and (2) Kepali (through Brown) told Prime within 30 days of acquiring the 3985 Toyota that it wanted coverage for that vehicle. The court reasoned that although Prime could charge Kepali a premium for after-acquired vehicles, payment was not a condition precedent to triggering continued coverage.

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Bluebook (online)
136 F.4th 1021, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prime-property-and-casualty-insurance-company-v-kepali-group-inc-ca11-2025.