Jones v. Life Ins. Co. of Fla.

• Decision Date: 26 November 1968
• Docket Number: No. 68--368,68--368
• Citation: 215 So.2d 889
• Parties: W. C. JONES, Appellant, v. LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF FLORIDA, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 889

215 So.2d 889

W. C. JONES, Appellant, v. LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

No. 68--368.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Nov. 26, 1968.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 18, 1968.

S. Harold Skolnick, Miami, for appellant.

George J. Baya, Miami, for appellee.

Before CHARLES CARROLL, C.J., and HENDRY and SWANN, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

W. C. Jones appeals from a final summary judgment rendered for the plaintiff-counterdefendant below, Life Insurance Company of Florida.

Jones argues that the trial court committed reversible error in entering a final summary judgment against him; in dismissing his fourth amended counterclaim with prejudice; and in denying his motion to product certain correspondence between the life insurance company and the office of the Florida State Insurance Commissioner.

This suit was started when the insurance company sued Jones alleging that he was employed as an agent to sell insurance for them in the Belle Glade, Florida area; that during the week of January 7, 1963, Jones had collected the sum of $2,250.63, of which $1,440.80 belonged to the plaintiff; that he had converted these funds; and that during the week of January 14, 1963, he had collected the sum of $2,125.55, of which $1,373.81 belonged to the company and that he had also converted this sum. The trial court denied Jones' motion to dismiss the complaint but required the insurance company to produce and attach to its complaint an insurance agency contract between the parties. The company filed the insurance agency contract. Jones then filed his answer which consisted primarily of a general denial of each and every material allegation of the complaint and a counterclaim against the insurance company.

During the skirmishing over the pleadings, Jones filed the following interrogatory to the insurance company:

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'10. (a) State the name and position held by the officer or agent of the plaintiff who undertook, following termination of Defendant's insurance agency contract, to secure a revocation of Defendant W. C. Jones' license as an insurance agent by the State Insurance Commissioner; (b) state the dates of each of the Plaintiff's communications to the State Insurance Commissioner on the subject of said revocation and indicate in each instance whether said communication was written or oral; (c) state what charges were made by the Plaintiff before the Insurance Commissioner in connection with said proceedings.'

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The company answered this interrogatory as follows:

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'10. I believe initially the Insurance Department was notified by J. E. Culbreth, Vice President. The exact dates of any communication between Mr. Culbreth and the Insurance Department I cannot find at this time; however, I wrote a letter to R. B. McClellan, Deputy Commissioner, Treasurer's Office, Tallahassee, Florida, and informed him on April 5, 1963, that Mr. Jones failed to remit to the Life of Florida premiums he had collected for and on behalf of Life of Florida. The week of January 14, 1963 he failed to remit $1,373.81 and for the week of January 7, 1963 he stopped payment on a check for net premiums in the amount of $1,440.80, which check in question was drawn on an account which did not have sufficient funds. In my letter of April 5th, I notified the department that the total monies owed to the company by this man was $2,814.61.'

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Ultimately, Jones filed his fourth amended counterclaim against the insurance company. The company filed its motion to dismiss and strike the fourth amended counterclaim. The trial court granted the plaintiff's motion to dismiss the fourth amended counterclaim with leave to the defendant Jones to amend only paragraphs 6 and 8 thereof; it granted the motion of the insurance company to strike paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 without leave to amend but denied the motion to strike paragraphs 6 and 8. This order required Jones to amend paragraphs 6 and 8 of the counterclaim within ten days, setting forth with particularity any alleged wilful, arbitrary or malicious acts effected or caused by the insurance company for the purpose of converting Jones' independent agency into a company operation; what sums, office equipment and records, if any, were converted; and what acts were undertaken, if any, to deprive Jones of an opportunity to earn a livelihood in the insurance field. Jones thereafter filed a motion in which he stated that he had elected not to amend his fourth amended counterclaim and moved for the entry of a final order of dismissal thereof. The trial court acted upon the aforesaid motion and dismissed the fourth amended counterclaim with prejudice.

The insurance company then moved for a summary...