Barnes v. Travelers Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 01 March 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 76--374,76--374 |
| Citation | 342 So.2d 1065 |
| Parties | Michael C. BARNES, Appellant, v. TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Pelzner & Schwedock and Joseph J. Finkelstein, Miami, for appellant.
Joel R. Teague, Robyn Greene, Miami, for appellee.
Before HENDRY, C.J., and NATHAN, J., and CHARLES CARROLL (Ret.), Associate Judge.
By this appeal the defendant in an action for declaratory judgment, brought against him by the appellee, Travelers Insurance Company, presents for review an adverse judgment which declared defendant was not entitled to the benefit of the uninsured motorist coverage of a policy issued by said insurance company to the defendant's employer, and which enjoined the proceedings initiated by defendant for arbitration of claim thereunder.
The appellant was injured in a collision of a vehicle he was driving with a vehicle driven by a hit-and-run driver. The vehicle driven by appellant was owned by his employer, Visual Graphics Inc. When injured, the appellant was acting in the course of his employment, and was entitled to coverages provided for in the liability insurance policy issued to Visual Graphics Inc. by the appellee.
In the policy, an uninsured automobile as defined included a hit-and-run automobile, subject to certain conditions. One of them was that 'the insured or someone on his behalf shall have reported the accident within 24 hours to a police, peace or judicial officer or to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles'.
In its action the insuror sought a declaration of non-coverage for the failure to give such notice, and thereupon to restrain the proposed arbitration proceeding. The defendant answered, averring the insuror knew or should have known of the accident, and that the insuror could not show prejudice such as to preclude recovery under the uninsured motorist coverage.
Trial of the action before the court resulted in judgment declaring the insuror was entitled to disclaim coverage, and enjoining the arbitration.
The record on appeal does not contain a transcript of the testimony and the proceedings at the trial. The pleadings and certain affidavits of record show the defendant did not report the accident as and within the time required. After the accident occurred, the defendant returned to his employment sometime later on that date. He did not inform his employer of the accident until the morning of the second day...
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Girard v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.
...Laster v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 293 So.2d 83 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1974); Barnes v. Travelers Insurance Co., 342 So.2d 1065 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1977); Allstate Insurance Co. v. Korschun, 350 So.2d 1081 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1977); Flamm v. Doe, 167 Ga.App. 587, 307 S.E.2d 105 (Ct.App.19......
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Brennan v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.
...(Fla. 3d DCA 1973); Laster v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, 293 So.2d 83 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974); Barnes v. Travelers Insurance Company, 342 So.2d 1065 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977). Compare: Allstate Insurance Company v. Korschun, 350 So.2d 1081 (Fla. 3d DCA ...