Alava By and Through Alava v. Allstate Ins. Co., 85-2818
| Decision Date | 12 November 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-2818,85-2818 |
| Citation | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 2348,497 So.2d 1286 |
| Parties | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 2348 Ernesto ALAVA, a minor, By and Through his parents and natural guardians, Avilio ALAVA and Alicia Martinez, Appellants, v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Gerald E. Rosser, Miami, for appellants.
Spencer and Taylor and Dean A. Mitchell, Miami, for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and HUBBART and BASKIN, JJ.
Ernesto Alava, a minor, appeals a final judgment in favor of Allstate Insurance Company. The sole question before us is whether an automobile insurance policy which provides coverage to family members who are residents of the insured's household applies to a family member who has more than one residence. Appellants maintain that Ernesto, who spends weekdays with his mother and weekends with his father, is a resident of both his mother's and his father's homes, and that, accordingly, he is entitled to coverage under his father's automobile insurance policy. Appellee disagrees, contending that Ernesto is only a guest at his father's house and not a resident within the terms of the policy. After a non-jury trial, the trial court determined that Ernesto was a resident of his mother's household for automobile insurance purposes, and therefore, not entitled to coverage. We conclude that the trial court erred in holding, as a matter of law, that the policy did not provide coverage to Ernesto.
In 1977, Avilio Alava and Alicia Martinez were divorced in Cuba. No documents exist in the United States pertaining to their divorce. They arrived in the United States with their son, Ernesto, in 1980, as part of the Mariel boat-lift, and settled in South Florida. In 1983, Avilio remarried and began living with his wife and father-in-law in North Fort Lauderdale. Beginning in 1983, Ernesto lived with his mother in Hialeah during the school week and with his father in North Fort Lauderdale on weekends, except for those weekends when Avilio worked or was out-of-town.
On January 3, 1984, Ernesto was struck by an uninsured motorist near his mother's home in Hialeah. At the time of the accident, he was enrolled in elementary school in Hialeah. The school records reflect that his home address was in Hialeah. Alicia's federal tax returns listed Ernesto as a dependent. Avilio, however, contributed regularly to Ernesto's support.
Avilio's automobile policy with Allstate defines "family member" as "a person related to the named insured by blood, marriage or adoption who is a resident of your household...." (Emphasis supplied.) In determining whether Ernesto is an insured under the policy, we must decide whether he is a resident of his father's household. Allstate's policy does not define residence as living continuously in the same house, nor does it limit a household to one residence exclusive of all others. See United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Williams, 375 So.2d 328, 331 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979), cert. denied, 386 So.2d 642 (Fla.1980). Instead, the policy treats "[t]he concept of household as a family unit, rather than as an address...." Williams, 375 So.2d at 331.
We are guided by statute and relevant case law in defining the operative terms in this case. Section 627.732(4), Florida Statutes (1983), of the Automobile Reparations Reform Act, defines the term "relative" similarly to the term "family member" used in the Allstate policy: one resides in the family household if he "usually makes his home in the same family unit, whether or not temporarily living elsewhere." Like the Automobile Reparations Reform Act, which broadens insurance coverage, see Charter Oak Fire Insurance Co. v. Regalado, 339 So.2d 277 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976), recent case law, liberally construing "resident of your household" clauses, acknowledges and approves of a variety of family arrangements which extend beyond the physical parameters of the house: Sutherland v. Glens Falls Insurance Co., 493 So.2d 87 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986) (); Row v. United Services Automobile Association, 474 So.2d 348 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985) (); Williams (household includes numerous family members of a poor family who are continually transient and mutually dependent).
Miller v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 127 N.J.Super. 37, 316 A.2d 51 (App.Div.1974), and Cal-Farm...
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