Glover v. Aetna Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 07 September 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. FF-366,FF-366 |
| Citation | 363 So.2d 12 |
| Parties | Jimmie Lee GLOVER, Appellant, v. AETNA INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Robert Orseck and Joel D. Eaton of Podhurst, Orseck & Parks, Miami, Wagner, Cunningham, Vaughan & Genders, Tampa, for appellant.
Richard W. Kreidler of Rice & Kreidler, Jacksonville, for appellee.
Glover appeals from an adverse final summary judgment entered in an uninsured motorist suit he brought against Aetna, the insurance carrier of his employer. He contends that under Section 627.727(1), Florida Statutes (1971), an insurance carrier must provide uninsured motorist coverage unless written notice rejecting the coverage is given by the insured. Aetna contends that Section 627.727(1) does not require written rejection and that oral rejection is sufficient. We agree and affirm.
The president of Glover's employer, the insured of Aetna, stated that Aetna's agent orally offered him uninsured motorist coverage on the vehicle used by Glover at the time he was injured and he orally rejected the coverage. The agent kept an application in his file which showed that the insured chose to obtain uninsured motorist coverage on its private passenger vehicles only. The vehicle used by Glover at the time of the accident was a commercial vehicle.
Section 627.727(1) requires an insurance carrier to write uninsured motorist coverage in an amount up to the level of the liability insurance coverage selected, unless the named insured selects a lower amount or rejects uninsured motorist coverage entirely. The statute does not specify the method or means whereby an insured may reject the coverage. In this case it is undisputed that the insured was neither offered uninsured motorist coverage in writing nor rejected that coverage in writing.
Fla.Admin. Code Rule 4-28.02 requires that evidence must be maintained by an insurance carrier that uninsured motorist coverage was offered in limits up to the bodily injury limits of liability applicable to the policy.
The statute is clear and unambiguous in requiring that uninsured motorist coverage be contained in a policy, unless it is rejected by the insured. However, the statute does not require written rejection nor does it mandate rejection in a specific form.
The most that a written rejection could do in this case would be to affirm the coverage was rejected. Yet, that has been proven. There is absolutely no doubt that the insured's president intended to and did reject uninsured motorist coverage as to the vehicle involved in the accident. That is all the statute requires.
Aetna's agent maintained evidence, the application, which the insured's president identified as having the correct information that he rejected uninsured motorist coverage on commercial vehicles but...
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...(selection of lower amounts by automobile manufacturer as named insured covers lessees of motor vehicles); Glover v. Aetna Insurance Co., 363 So.2d 12 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978) (rejection of uninsured motorist insurance by president of insured employer extends to employees operating company's com......
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Travelers Ins. Co. v. Spencer
...received an oral rejection, which may, under appropriate circumstances, satisfy the statute's requirements. See Glover v. Aetna Insurance Co., 363 So.2d 12 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). The agent stated that it was his general practice to offer UM coverage in accordance with the statute, and, while ......
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Decker v. Great American Ins. Co.
...rule 4-28.02, required that rejection to be in writing. The First District has not required written rejection. Glover v. Aetna Insurance Co., 363 So.2d 12 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). But see American Motorists Insurance Co. v. Weingarten, 355 So.2d 821 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). The Third District has r......
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Kimbrell v. Great American Ins. Co.
...However, the statute does not require written rejection nor does it mandate rejection in a specific form." Glover v. Aetna Insurance Co., 363 So.2d 12, 13 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). What the statute does require is that a rejection of uninsured motorist coverage or a selection of lower limits of ......