Allstate Ins. Co. v. Metropolitan Dade County, No. 82-478

• Court: Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
• Writing for the Court: HENDRY; FERGUSON
• Citation: 436 So.2d 976
• Decision Date: 02 August 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-478
• Parties: ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, as subrogee of Irwin Siegel, Appellant, v. METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY, Appellee.

Page 976

436 So.2d 976 ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, as subrogee of Irwin Siegel, Appellant,
v.
METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY, Appellee. No. 82-478. District Court of Appeal of Florida,
Third District. Aug. 2, 1983.
Rehearing Denied Sept. 21, 1983.

Page 977

Bedford & Whitelock and Jack Whitelock, Jr., Miami, for appellant.

Robert A. Ginsburg, County Atty., and Kenneth B. Drucker and Roy Wood, Asst. County Attys., for appellee.

Before HENDRY, HUBBART and FERGUSON, JJ.

HENDRY, Judge.

Allstate Insurance Company appeals from a final summary judgment entered in favor of appellee Metropolitan Dade County on Allstate's subrogation claim against the county. For reasons more fully developed below, we affirm the trial court's decision.

The facts need be stated only briefly. On May 3, 1975, an automobile insured by appellant was involved in an accident with a bus owned and operated by appellee. By the terms of the insurance contract, the insured's claim under his uninsured motorist benefits went to arbitration. On June 6, 1978, an award in the amount of $156,000 was entered in favor of the insured. Appellant paid that award on October 6, 1978. Under the terms of the contract, appellant was then subrogated to the rights of the insured. Appellant did not file a complaint on its subrogation claim against appellee until September 24, 1980. Under section 768.28(12), Florida Statutes (1975), an action against a governmental agency must be brought within four years of the date the statute of limitations begins to run. The only issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in finding that in a subrogation claim, the statute of limitations begins to run on the date of the accident and that, therefore, summary judgment was appropriate since appellant did not file its complaint until after the statute of limitations period had already ended.

Appellant repeatedly characterizes this action as a "subrogated claim for indemnity". By doing so, it attempts to blur the distinction between subrogation and indemnification,

Page 978

thus merging the two and treating all claims for reimbursement as if they were indemnity claims. These efforts are understandable: appellant seeks to take advantage of the well established principle that in indemnification actions, the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the indemnitee pays on an obligation. Employers' Fire Insurance Co. v. Continental Insurance Co., 326 So.2d 177 (Fla.1976); Castle Construction Co. v. Huttig Sash & Door Co., 425 So.2d 573 (Fla.2d DCA 1982); Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. v. Rojas, 409 So.2d 1166 (Fla.3d DCA 1982); Mims Crane Service, Inc. v. Insley Manufacturing Corp., 226 So.2d 836 (Fla.2d DCA 1969). This focus on the common set elements of both doctrines, that both involve parties seeking reimbursement for monies paid which should have been paid by another, cannot be used to shift attention away from the true distinction; that is, subrogation and indemnification are different because the rights involved are different.

In principle, there is a clear distinction between subrogation rights and indemnification rights. Subrogation is designed to afford relief when one is required to pay a legal obligation which ought to be met, either wholly or partially, by another. Underwriters at Lloyds v. City of Lauderdale Lakes, 382 So.2d 702 (Fla.1980); American Home Assurance Co. v. City of Opa Locka, 368 So.2d 416 (Fla.3d DCA 1979), and cases cited therein. Subrogation rights place a party, like appellant in this case, in the legal position of one who has been paid money because of the acts of a third party. Thus, the subrogee "stands in the shoes" of the subrogor and is entitled to all of the rights of its subrogor, Klonis v. Armstrong, 436 So.2d 213 (1983), but also suffers all of the liabilities to which the subrogor would be subject. Holyoke Mutual Insurance Co. v. Concrete Equipment, Inc., 394 So.2d 193 (Fla.3d DCA), rev. denied, 402 So.2d 609 (Fla.1981); Jones v. Bradley, 366 So.2d 1266 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979). In subrogation, the subrogee, now in the same posture as the plaintiff/subrogor, acquires all rights as against the defendant/wrongdoer and is thus able to bring an action against that party to recover the monies paid.

Indemnity, on the other hand, shifts the entire loss from one who, although without active negligence or fault, has been obligated to pay, because of some vicarious, constructive, derivative, or technical liability, to another who should bear the cost because it was the latter's wrongdoing for which the former is held liable. Houdaille Industries, Inc. v. Edwards, 374 So.2d 490 (Fla.1979). Indemnification rights derive from the relationship between a party like the appellant and the party causing the injury. Given the requisite relationship, and assuming that the party seeking indemnification was not at all responsible for the injury, the injuring party becomes liable to the payor.

Both subrogation and indemnification may be either contractual or...