Buckner v. Physicians Protective Trust Fund
| Decision Date | 06 November 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-182,79-182 |
| Citation | 376 So.2d 461 |
| Parties | John W. BUCKNER, M.D., Appellant, v. PHYSICIANS PROTECTIVE TRUST FUND, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Montgomery, Lytal, Reiter, Denney & Searcy and Charles C. Powers, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Blackwell, Walker, Gray, Powers, Flick & Hoehl and Raymond A. Reiser, Miami, for appellee.
Before HENDRY, HUBBART and NESBITT, JJ.
The appellant, a physician, challenges the entry of the summary final judgment, the effect of which was to deny him coverage under a professional service policy issued by the appellee.
The appellee had denied coverage to Dr. Buckner after an action for slander had been initiated against him by Drs. Benavides and Schaubel. In that action, Drs. Benavides and Schaubel alleged that they had been slandered by Dr. Buckner and others, stating that:
During or immediately prior to the month of October, 1976, Defendants, acting in concert and in pursuit of mutual goals, spoke to reporters for The Miami Herald and maliciously charged Plaintiff with performing unnecessary and incompetent spinal surgery. Defendants intended and contemplated that said charges would appear in an article to be published by The Miami Herald.
The complaint went on to allege that the initial article containing the defendant's charges appeared in The Miami Herald on October 31, 1976. Drs. Benavides and Schaubel further asserted that, as was foreseeable, defendant's charges were republished; specifically in The News and Courier, a South Carolina daily and four subsequent times in The Miami Herald.
In their claim for slander, they further contended that the charges were maliciously false and were intended to, were understood to and did refer to the plaintiffs. The complaint maintained that the defendants communicated these charges willfully, wantonly, maliciously, and either with knowledge of their falsity or in reckless disregard of the truth, with the express intent of discrediting the plaintiffs.
Under the professional service policy, appellee agreed:
(t)o pay on behalf of the Member all sums which the Member shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of any claim or claims made against the member during the indemnity period arising out of the performance of professional services rendered or which should have been rendered . . . .
Under the indemnity agreement, professional services were defined as follows:
the rendering of or failure to render any service of a professional nature by a physician . . . and shall be deemed to include . . . the services by a Member as a member of a formal accreditation or similar board or committee of a hospital or professional society.
After the appellee denied coverage under the indemnity agreement, Dr. Buckner joined the appellee in a third party action pursuant to Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.180. In this action, Dr. Buckner alleged that:
At all times material herein, JOHN W. BUCKNER, M.D., was duly deputized pursuant to Florida Statutes 458.1201 by the Florida Board of Medical Examiners for the purpose of conducting an investigation into the conduct and competence of physicians and was at all times material hereto acting in the course and scope of his authority and in furtherance of the duty thereby imposed.
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