Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc., 84-2053

• Decision Date: 30 July 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-2053,84-2053
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals
• Parties: 10 Fla. L. Weekly 1843 BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF FLORIDA, INC., Appellant. v. RYDER TRUCK RENTAL, INC., a Florida corporation d/b/a Ryder Truck Rentals, S & M Cypress Co., Inc., a Florida corporation and Stanley Earl Eib, Appellees.

Page 1373

472 So.2d 1373

10 Fla. L. Weekly 1843

BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF FLORIDA, INC., Appellant. v. RYDER TRUCK RENTAL, INC., a Florida corporation d/b/a Ryder Truck Rentals, S & M Cypress Co., Inc., a Florida corporation and Stanley Earl Eib, Appellees.

No. 84-2053.

District Court of Appeal of Florida,

Third District.

July 30, 1985.

Adkins & Hardy and H. Lawrence Hardy, Coral Gables, for appellant.

Spence, Payne, Masington, Grossman & Needle and Andrew Needle, Miami, for appellees.

Before HUBBART, BASKIN and FERGUSON, JJ.

BASKIN, Judge.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida [Blue Cross] appeals an order dismissing its complaint for indemnification against Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. [Ryder]. Finding that the asserted cause of action for indemnity does not exist, we affirm.

The events leading to this appeal began when a vehicle owned by Ryder collided with an automobile occupied by Ada Montesino, a Blue Cross insured. As a result of the accident, Montesino suffered personal injuries which required medical treatment, including hospitalization, physician care, and other medical services and supplies. Montesino recovered payment for her medical expenses from Blue Cross pursuant to a group health insurance contract between Blue Cross and Montesino's employer. Blue Cross subsequently filed this lawsuit against Ryder, alleging that it is entitled to indemnification for the medical benefits it was obligated to pay Montesino under its contract with her employer for the injuries Montesino sustained as a result of an automobile accident caused by the negligence of Ryder. The trial court dismissed Blue Cross's complaint with prejudice, finding "that because the insured is barred from recovery under the provisions of the Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law, the insurer is similarly barred from any subrogation or indemnification rights by reason thereof. Ergo, there exists no cause of action for indemnity."

Although we agree with the trial court that dismissal of this action is warranted, we affirm the dismissal upon grounds other than those advanced by the court below. See Applegate v. Barnett Bank, 377 So.2d 1150 (Fla.1979); Petrulli v. Approved Dry Wall Construction, Inc., 284 So.2d 27 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973), cert. denied, 292 So.2d 18 (Fla.1974). The trial court correctly noted that the "collateral source rule," section 627.7372 of the Motor Vehicle and Casualty Insurance Contracts Chapter, Florida Statutes (1983), precludes an insurer such as Blue Cross from instituting a claim for subrogation against the tortfeasor for sums paid by the insurer to the insured. Prince v. American Indemnity Co., 431 So.2d 270 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983). It is the nature of the right of subrogation that causes the collateral source rule to operate in this manner. Subrogation allows a party required to pay a legal obligation owed by another to step into the shoes of the injured party and assert the latter's original claim against the wrongdoer. Underwriters at Lloyd's v. City of Lauderdale, 382 So.2d 702 (Fla.1980); Allstate Insurance Co. v. Metropolitan Dade County, 436 So.2d 976 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), review denied, 447 So.2d 885 (Fla.1984). A party's right of subrogation is limited by any impediment in the injured party's claim. Holyoke Mutual Insurance Co. v. Concrete Equipment, Inc., 394 So.2d 193 (Fla. 3d DCA), review denied, 402 So.2d 609 (Fla.1981); Jones v. Bradley, 366 So.2d 1266 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979). Thus, an insurer who has paid benefits to an injured party has no right of subrogation against the wrongdoer where the injured party is precluded from recovering these sums from the wrongdoer by the collateral source rule.

However, because of the clear distinction between the right of subrogation and the right of indemnity at issue here, we are unable to conclude that the collateral source rule operates equally as a bar to the insurer's claims for both subrogation and indemnity. Rather, based upon the nature of the right of indemnity, we find that Blue Cross possesses no claim for indemnity against Ryder, not because of the collateral source rule, but because the common law of Florida does not now and has not in the past permitted such a cause of action.

In its recent pronouncements, the Florida Supreme Court has defined indemnity as a right which inures to "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 costs because it was the latter's wrongdoing for which the former is held liable." Houdaille Industries, Inc. v. Edwards, 374 So.2d 490, 492 (Fla.1979). Absent the existence of a "special relationship" between the parties rendering the party seeking indemnity vicariously, constructively, or technically liable for the wrongful acts of the party against whom indemnity is sought, there can be no cause of action for indemnity. Houdaille; Allstate; see Stuart v. Hertz Corp., 351 So.2d 703 (Fla.1977); Mims Crane Service, Inc. v. Insley Manufacturing Corp., 226 So.2d 836 (Fla. 2d DCA); cert. denied, 234 So.2d 122 (Fla.1969); see generally Wetherington, Tort Indemnity in Florida, 8 Fla.St.U.L.Rev. 383 (1980); Chesrow, Howard, and Howard, Fault and Equity: Implied Indemnity After Houdaille, 34 U.Miami L.Rev. 727 (1980).

In this case, Blue Cross has failed to allege and could not possibly establish that its obligation to Montesino was based upon some vicarious, derivative, constructive, or technical liability stemming from a "special relationship" with Ryder. Rather, Blue Cross was liable for the payment of Montesino's medical expenses pursuant to the terms of a group health insurance policy with Montesino's employer covering Montesino for injuries resulting from, among other things, an automobile accident. Its liability was direct and contractual, not indirect and derivative, based upon some pre-tort duty between itself and Ryder. See Wetherington, supra. Ryder...