T. Patton Youngblood, Jr. v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

638 F. App'x 837
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedDecember 28, 2015
Docket15-11214
StatusUnpublished

This text of 638 F. App'x 837 (T. Patton Youngblood, Jr. v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company) 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
T. Patton Youngblood, Jr. v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 638 F. App'x 837 (11th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

T. Patton .Youngblood, Jr., appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the defendant, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (“State Farm”), on Youngblood’s lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment and damages for breach of contract, which was filed in state court and then removed to federal court by State Farm. The lawsuit stems from an accident that occurred on December 24, 2002, involving a 1996 Lexus LS400 that was titled to Youngblood’s ex-wife, Angela Youngblood (“Angela”), and that resulted in the death of the driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident. About one month earlier, Youngblood had brought the Lexus to a used car dealership, Extreme Auto Sales (“Extreme”), to be sold on his behalf. At the time of the accident, the Lexus was being driven by an Extreme employee, who had taken the car home for the night. In a separate lawsuit brought by the estate of the driver of the other vehicle, Youngblood was found vicariously liable for over $100,000 in damages.

At the time of the accident, Youngblood had an insurance policy with State Farm that covered his 2001 GMC Yukon (“the insurance policy”). In the district court, Youngblood maintained that, on December 24, 2002, the Lexus was covered under the “newly acquired car” provision of the insurance policy, which provided automatic coverage for a newly acquired car for 31 days after its “delivery to you or your spouse.” Youngblood contended that, pursuant to the terms of his marital settlement agreement with Angela, he did not acquire use and possession rights in the Lexus until December 22, 2002, and thus “delivery”- did not occur until that date, rendering the Lexus covered under the newly acquired car provision on December 24, 2002. The district court disagreed, concluding that the Lexus had been delivered to Youngblood on November 5, 2002, when he took possession of it from Angela, and that the newly acquired car coverage expired on the thirty-second day thereafter, December 7, 2002. On appeal, Young-blood contends that the district court erred by treating the word “delivery” in the newly acquired car provision as unambigu *839 ous, and he maintains that a genuine issue of material fact existed as to when the delivery occurred. After careful review, we affirm.

We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, viewing all the evidence and drawing all reasonable factual inferences in favor of the nonmov-ing party. Stephens v. Mid-Continent Cas. Co., 749 F.3d 1318, 1321 (11th Cir.2014). Summary judgment is appropriate if “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). The interpretation of a provision in an insurance contract is a question of law, which we review de novo. Stephens, 749 F.3d at 1321.

The parties do not dispute that, in this diversity case, Florida law governs the interpretation of the insurance policy. See Sphinx Int’l Inc. v. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa., 412 F.3d 1224, 1227 (11th Cir.2005). Under Florida law, if the terms of an insurance contract are clear and unambiguous, a court must interpret the contract in accordance with its plain meaning, and, unless an ambiguity exists, the court should not resort to outside evidence or complex rules of construction. Key v. Allstate Ins. Co., 90 F.3d 1546, 1549 (11th Cir.1996) (citing, inter alia, Rigel v. Nat’l Cas. Co., 76 So.2d 285, 286 (Fla.1954); Old Dominion Ins. Co. v. Elysee, Inc., 601 So.2d 1243, 1245 (Fla. 1 DCA 1992); and Southeastern Fire Ins. Co. v. Lehrman, 443 So.2d 408, 408-09 (Fla. 4 DCA 1984)). In deciding whether a contract is ambiguous, words should be given their natural, ordinary meaning. Id. Ambiguity does not exist simply because a contract requires interpretation or fails to define a term. Id. When interpreting insurance contracts, a court may “consult references commonly relied upon to supply the accepted meanings of words,” such as dictionaries. Garcia v. Fed. Ins. Co., 969 So.2d 288, 291-92 (Fla.2007).

Here, the district court noted that the term “delivery” was not defined in the insurance policy, so it looked to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary for the plain and common meaning of the word, which included “transfer of the body or substance of a thing.” Applying that definition to the newly acquired car provision in the insurance policy, the district court concluded that “delivery of the car to you” meant transfer of the physical car to Youngblood. 1 The district court did not err in concluding that the term “delivery” was unambiguous and in giving that word its plain and common meaning. See Key, 90 F.3d at 1549; Garcia, 969 So.2d at 291-92; see also Dixie Ins. Co. v. Detamore, 515 So.2d 1390, 1392 (Fla. 5 DCA 1987) (concluding that automatic coverage for a newly acquired car began when the insured took control and possession of the car, not on the earlier date when she had paid for it, or on the later date when she received the title).

Nor did the district court err in holding that delivery occurred on November 5, 2002. In making that determination, the district court relied on the undisputed facts that, in November 2002,. Youngblood and Angela were in the process of dissolving their marriage. During the marriage, Angela had driven the Lexus, and had insured the Lexus with State Farm. While the title was solely in Angela’s name, Youngblood and Angela had *840 originally purchased the Lexus with a loan, on which Youngblood was the sole obligor. When Youngblood brought the Lexus to Extreme in mid-November 2002, he still owed $16,500 on the loan. As she and Youngblood were dissolving the marriage, Angela decided to buy a less expensive vehicle that would be safer for her and Youngblood’s young daughter. On November 5, 2002, Angela purchased a 1999 Isuzu Rodeo from a car dealership. That same day, Youngblood met Angela at the dealership, where he picked up the Lexus. Angela never again took possession of the Lexus, and transferred her insurance policy with State Farm to the Isuzu. These undisputed facts support the district court’s conclusion that Youngblood took physical possession of the Lexus on November 5, 2002, and that the “delivery” occurred on that day.

Youngblood argues that the term “delivery” could reasonably be construed to have occurred, instead, when he became the legal owner of the Lexus, upon his receipt of exclusive use and possession rights in the vehicle. He bases his argument on the terms of his marital settlement agreement with Angela, which provided that:

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Related

Key v. Allstate Insurance Company
90 F.3d 1546 (Eleventh Circuit, 1996)
Rigel v. National Casualty Company
76 So. 2d 285 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1954)
Overton v. Progressive Ins. Co.
585 So. 2d 445 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1991)
Taurus Holdings v. US Fidelity
913 So. 2d 528 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2005)
Old Dominion Ins. Co. v. Elysee, Inc.
601 So. 2d 1243 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1992)
Garcia v. Federal Ins. Co.
969 So. 2d 288 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2007)
Southeastern Fire Ins. Co. v. Lehrman
443 So. 2d 408 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1984)
Dixie Insurance Co. v. Detamore
515 So. 2d 1390 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
638 F. App'x 837, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/t-patton-youngblood-jr-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-company-ca11-2015.