Roach v. STATE FARM MUT. AUTO. INS.

892 So. 2d 1107, 2004 Fla. App. LEXIS 17036, 2004 WL 2532959
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 10, 2004
Docket2D03-201
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 892 So. 2d 1107 (Roach v. STATE FARM MUT. AUTO. INS.) 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
Roach v. STATE FARM MUT. AUTO. INS., 892 So. 2d 1107, 2004 Fla. App. LEXIS 17036, 2004 WL 2532959 (Fla. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

892 So.2d 1107 (2004)

Margaret ROACH and Thomas Roach, Appellants,
v.
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee.

No. 2D03-201.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

November 10, 2004.

*1108 Joel D. Eaton of Podhurst Orseck, P.A., Miami, and Wagner, Vaughan & McLaughlin, P.A., Tampa, for Appellants.

Thomas F. Neal and Stephen J. Jacobs of de Beaubien, Knight, Simmons, Mantzaris & Neal, L.L.P., Orlando, for Appellee.

WALLACE, Judge.

In this case, we are asked to decide whether the trial court properly refused to invoke the public policy of Florida to invalidate an exclusionary provision of a contract of insurance that is otherwise governed by the law of another state. In an action to obtain underinsured motorist benefits, the trial court, granting final summary judgment in favor of the insurer, enforced an exclusionary provision that is valid according to the law of Indiana but repugnant to the public policy of Florida. Our decision addresses our state's public policy as it relates to "snow birds" — those who spend substantially less time in Florida than year-round residents but who reside in our state with a significant degree of permanence. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse.

Factual Background: the Accident and the Lawsuit

Thomas and Margaret Roach, year-round Florida residents, were passengers in an Oldsmobile insured by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company *1109 when they were seriously injured in a collision with a Ford Explorer in Lake Wales, Florida, on January 26, 2001. The Oldsmobile was owned and operated by Ivan Hodges, who, along with his wife, Betty,[1] were winter neighbors of the Roaches and were named insureds on the automobile insurance policy. State Farm had issued the policy to Mr. Hodges in Indiana, at the Hodges' Indiana address, through an Indiana agent.

The Roaches sued Mr. Hodges and the driver and operator of the Ford Explorer for negligence. They included in their complaint a claim against State Farm seeking underinsured motorist benefits under Mr. Hodges' policy. The Roaches resolved their claim against Mr. Hodges by settling with State Farm, in its capacity as Mr. Hodges' insurer, for the policy limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence for personal injury liability. The Roaches also settled their claim involving the Ford Explorer for the personal injury liability limits of the policy covering it, which was also $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence. The lawsuit continued against State Farm for underinsured motorist benefits under Mr. Hodges' policy, which provided such benefits to a limit of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence.

State Farm moved for final summary judgment based on the affirmative defense of an exclusionary provision of the policy. Because only the enforcement of this exclusion is at issue in this appeal, we assume — but do not decide — that (1) the Roaches are insureds under Mr. Hodges' policy according to a definition of "insured" as any person occupying the car and (2) the Roaches are entitled to benefits under the underinsured motorist coverage provision of Mr. Hodges' policy if such coverage is not excluded elsewhere in the policy.[2] The trial court did not decide these issues below, and we express no opinion thereon. The provision purporting to exclude the Roaches from coverage is located within the definition of "underinsured motor vehicle":

Underinsured Motor Vehicle — means a land motor vehicle:
....
2. whose limits of liability for bodily injury liability:
a. are less than the limits you carry for underinsured motor vehicle coverage under this policy; or
b. have been reduced by payments to persons other than the insured to less than the limits you carry for underinsured motor vehicle coverage under this policy.

If enforced, this provision would preclude the Roaches from "stacking" underinsured motorist benefits on top of the policy limits they received from the policy covering the Ford Explorer and from State Farm in its capacity as Mr. Hodges' liability insurer.

The law of Indiana permits such a provision. See Ind.Code Ann. § 27-7-5-5 (West 2004); Ansert v. Ind. Farmers Mut. Ins. Co., 659 N.E.2d 614, 621 (Ind.Ct.App.1995) (affirming enforcement of the "anti-stacking" provisions of section 27-7-5-5). However, such a provision is repugnant to the public policy of Florida, as expressed by our legislature, which has declared that underinsured motorist coverage must be *1110 over and above the benefits available to an insured under any motor vehicle liability insurance coverage and that the amount of underinsured coverage shall not be reduced by a setoff against any coverage, including liability insurance. See § 627.727(1), Fla. Stat. (2000); Salas v. Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 272 So.2d 1, 3 (Fla.1972) (looking to the uninsured motorist statute as an expression of Florida's public policy). The Roaches urged the trial court to invoke the public policy of the forum to invalidate the provision excluding underinsured motorist coverage, notwithstanding the fact that the policy was contracted for in another state. The trial court enforced the exclusionary provision according to the law of Indiana and granted final summary judgment in favor of State Farm.

The Standard of Review

We review a final order granting a summary judgment de novo. Volusia County v. Aberdeen at Ormond Beach, L.P., 760 So.2d 126 (Fla.2000). A party moving for a summary judgment must conclusively demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.510; Holl v. Talcott, 191 So.2d 40, 43 (Fla.1966). Once the moving party meets its burden, then the party opposing entry of a summary judgment must prove the existence of genuine triable issues. Id. at 43-44. We view the facts in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Staniszeski v. Walker, 550 So.2d 19, 20 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989).

Legal Background: Lex Loci Contractus and the Public Policy Exception

The doctrine of lex loci contractus, as applied to a contract for automobile insurance, provides that the law of the jurisdiction where the contract was executed governs the rights and liabilities of the parties in determining an issue of insurance coverage. Sturiano v. Brooks, 523 So.2d 1126, 1129 (Fla.1988). In this case, because the policy at issue was issued and delivered in Indiana, a court must look first to the law of Indiana to determine State Farm's liability with regard to underinsured motorist benefits.

An exception to the general rule of lex loci contractus occurs when a Florida court recognizes a "paramount interest" in protecting Florida residents from a provision of the insurance contract that is repugnant to the public policy of Florida. See Gillen v. United Servs. Auto. Ass'n, 300 So.2d 3, 7 (Fla.1974). The public policy exception is properly invoked when Florida bears a significant connection[3]

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892 So. 2d 1107, 2004 Fla. App. LEXIS 17036, 2004 WL 2532959, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roach-v-state-farm-mut-auto-ins-fladistctapp-2004.