Woodard v. Pa. Nat. Mut. Ins. Co.

534 So. 2d 716
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 16, 1988
Docket87-765
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 534 So. 2d 716 (Woodard v. Pa. Nat. Mut. Ins. 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
Woodard v. Pa. Nat. Mut. Ins. Co., 534 So. 2d 716 (Fla. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

534 So.2d 716 (1988)

Joseph A. WOODARD, Appellant,
v.
PENNSYLVANIA NATIONAL MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee.

No. 87-765.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

September 27, 1988.
On Motion for Rehearing December 16, 1988.

*717 S. Perry Penland, Jr., of Penland, Penland & Pafford, P.A., Jacksonville, for appellant.

Gregg L. Wirtz and Karen Cole of Boyd & Jenerette, P.A., Jacksonville, for appellee.

ZEHMER, Judge.

Joseph A. Woodard appeals a final summary judgment entered in favor of Pennsylvania National Mutual Insurance Company on his claim for uninsured motorist benefits. He contends that, having exhausted the bodily injury liability coverage under the policy insuring the driver of the vehicle in which he was injured, he may recover uninsured motorist benefits under that same policy because the driver of the other automobile involved, who was found along with Woodard's driver to be jointly and severally liable for Woodard's injuries, was uninsured. We agree and reverse.

On August 20, 1985, Woodard was injured in an automobile accident when a car driven by Nathan Yergy in which he was riding collided with a car driven by Gary Fairfield. Woodard sued both Yergy and Fairfield for their negligence and a judgment was entered finding both drivers jointly and severally liable to Woodard.[1] Woodard collected the $10,000 bodily injury liability limits from Yergy under Yergy's Pennsylvania National insurance policy, but was unable to recover any benefits from Fairfield because Fairfield was uninsured at the time of the accident. Woodard subsequently applied to Pennsylvania National for Yergy's uninsured motorist coverage benefits, but Pennsylvania National refused to pay such benefits. Woodard then filed suit against Pennsylvania National *718 claiming entitlement to uninsured motorist coverage from Yergy's policy for the damages negligently caused by Fairfield and seeking a declaratory judgment declaring his right and entitlement to those benefits.

Woodard moved for partial summary judgment on the issue of his entitlement to such benefits as a matter of law. The trial court granted his motion and entered a partial summary judgment in his favor, finding that the legislature specifically intended that the 1984 amendment to the uninsured motorist statute, § 627.727, Fla. Stat. (Supp. 1984), make uninsured motorist coverage available in cases such as this. Subsequently, Pennsylvania National filed a motion requesting that the trial court reconsider the partial summary judgment on the ground that Nicholas v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company, 503 So.2d 993 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987), an opinion published after entry of the partial summary judgment, was dispositive of the declaratory judgment issue of coverage and mandated that the court set aside the partial summary judgment for Woodard. The trial court reluctantly granted Pennsylvania National's motion, set aside the partial summary judgment for Woodard and entered a final summary judgment in favor of Pennsylvania National. Although the trial court expressed its disagreement with these decisions, it entered judgment for Pennsylvania National because it found that Nicholas and Fidelity and Cas. Co. of New York v. Streicher, 506 So.2d 92 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987), established that even under the 1984 amendment to the uninsured motorist statute an injured person is precluded from recovering under both the liability and uninsured motorist provisions of the same policy. Woodard appeals the final summary judgment.

The law of Florida is well established that

Under every uninsured motorist policy issued in Florida, an insured is entitled to uninsured motorist benefits where (1) he has been injured by an uninsured motor vehicle and (2) he is "legally entitled to recover" from the operator of the uninsured motor vehicle. Allstate Insurance Company v. Boynton, 486 So.2d 552 (Fla. 1986).

Jernigan v. Progressive American Ins. Co., 501 So.2d 748, 750 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987). Woodard has obtained judgment against both Fairfield and Yergy, so he has clearly satisfied the second requirement. The question to be resolved on this appeal is whether appellee has shown, as a matter of law under the applicable statute and policy provisions, that Woodard cannot prove that "he has been injured by an uninsured motor vehicle."

The decisions in both Nicholas and Streicher were predicated on State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. McClure, 501 So.2d 141 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987), a case that interpreted the 1983 version of uninsured motorist statute. In McClure, the wife of a passenger killed in an automobile owned and operated by the insured driver attempted to recover uninsured motorist coverage under the driver's policy after having exhausted the liability limits of that policy. The insurance policy at issue in that case contained the following provisions:

We will pay damages for bodily injury an insured is legally entitled to collect from the owner or driver of an uninsured motor vehicle. The bodily injury must be caused by an accident arising out of the operation, maintenance, or use of an uninsured motor vehicle.
An uninsured motor vehicle does not include a land motor vehicle: (1) insured under the liability coverage of this policy.

The court stated that the applicable statutory provision was § 627.727(2)(b), Florida Statutes (1983) which provided that an:

insurer shall make available, at the written request of the insured, excess underinsured motor vehicle coverage, providing coverage for an insured motor vehicle when the other person's liability insurer has provided limits of bodily injury liability for its insured which are less than the damages of the injured person purchasing such excess underinsured motor vehicle coverage. Such excess coverage shall provide the same coverage as the uninsured motor vehicle *719 coverage provided in subsection (1), except that the excess coverage shall also be over and above, but shall not duplicate, the benefits available under the other person's liability coverage. The amount of such excess coverage shall not be reduced by a setoff against any coverage, including liability insurance. (Emphasis supplied.)

The plaintiff in McClure argued that the policy's exclusionary language conflicted with the uninsured motorist statute and thus was void as against public policy, because that language limited the application of uninsured motorist coverage to less than that required by the statute. The Second District disagreed, finding no conflict between the policy language and the statute and ruling that a person insured under such policy was precluded from collecting both liability coverage and uninsured motorist coverage under the same policy. The court reasoned that § 627.727, Fla. Stat. (1983), which explicitly refers to an "other person's liability coverage," contemplates a separate tortfeasor with the result that uninsured motorist benefits are only intended to be provided when a negligent third party was actually uninsured or underinsured because that person's liability coverage was less than the amount of damages caused by the injury. Accordingly, the court gave effect to the policy provision prohibiting payment of uninsured motorist coverage and liability coverage under the same policy.

In 1984, the legislature amended section 627.727 by deleting subsection (2)(b) of § 627.727.[2]

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Bluebook (online)
534 So. 2d 716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodard-v-pa-nat-mut-ins-co-fladistctapp-1988.