Joynt v. Star Ins. Co., Case No: 6:16–cv–924–Orl–40KRS

• Decision Date: 01 June 2018
• Docket Number: Case No: 6:16–cv–924–Orl–40KRS
• Parties: Erin JOYNT, Plaintiff, v. STAR INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida

314 F.Supp.3d 1233

Erin JOYNT, Plaintiff,

v.STAR INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant.

Case No: 6:16–cv–924–Orl–40KRS

United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Orlando Division.

Signed June 1, 2018

John Michael Phillips, Thomas Caldwell Roberts, Law Offices of John M. Phillips, Jacksonville, FL, for Plaintiff.

Lauren S. Curtis, Ryan Stephen Burke, Traub, Lieberman, Strauss & Shrewsberry LLP, St Petersburg, FL, for Defendant.

ORDER

PAUL G. BYRON, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff Erin Joynt was awarded $2,000,000 in damages in a state law negligence action against Volusia County. Because Volusia County is a sovereign entity, and shielded by Florida's sovereign immunity caps, Plaintiff attempts to recover the excess damages awarded to her from Defendant Star Insurance Company under an excess liability policy issued to Volusia County. In the action before this Court, Plaintiff seeks a judicial declaration regarding the various rights and liabilities under the excess insurance policy.

Before the Court are the parties' cross Motions for Summary Judgment (Docs. 45, 46), and the parties' responses and replies thereto (Docs. 48, 49, 55). The parties agree this case involves a purely legal question of contract interpretation; thus, the entire dispute will be resolved on the parties' cross motions for summary judgment. (Doc. 56). Upon consideration and review of the record as cited by the parties in their respective briefs, the Court grants Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment and denies Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual History

The accident that gave rise to this case occurred on July 31, 2011, when Plaintiff Erin Joynt ("Plaintiff") and her family were vacationing in Volusia County, Florida. (Doc. 45, ¶ 7). While sunbathing on the beach, Plaintiff was run over by a Volusia County employee in front of her husband and two young children. Plaintiff was severely injured by the accident.

On April 5, 2012, Plaintiff sued Volusia County for negligence in the Seventh Judicial Circuit in and for Volusia County. Following a four-day trial on causation and damages, the jury awarded Plaintiff $2,600,000 in damages. (Doc. 45, ¶ 12). This amount was reduced by the trial court following an appeal, and final judgment was entered for Plaintiff and against Volusia County for $2,000,000. (Doc. 1–1).

At the time of the accident, Volusia County was insured by Defendant Star Insurance Company ("Star") through a public entity liability policy (the "Policy"). (Doc. 51, ¶ 1; Doc. 1–7). The Policy provided that Star "will pay all sums an ‘insured’ legally must pay as damages because of ‘bodily injury’ or ‘property damage’ to which this insurance applies, caused by an ‘accident’ and resulting from the ownership, maintenance or use of a covered ‘auto’." (Doc. 1–7, p. 21). Under the Self–Insured Retention Endorsement, coverage applies "solely in excess of the Named Insured's self-insured retention" ("SIR"), which Volusia County must pay before coverage is triggered. (Id. at pp. 84–86). The SIR applies to "insured damages and insured allocated costs and expenses of investigation, defense, negotiation and settlement applicable to such insured damages." (Id. at pp. 84–85).

Volusia County, as a state entity, is protected by sovereign immunity. The Florida Legislature has waived its sovereign immunity for torts liability subject to Florida Statute § 768.28 (2011), which sets a cap on tort recovery for governmental entities at $100,000 per person and $200,000 per accident. Fla. Stat. § 768.28 (2011).¹

Following the entry of final judgment in the underlying negligence action, Volusia County paid Plaintiff its sovereign immunity limits of $200,000. (Doc. 46, p. 4). Because of the caps set forth in § 768.28(5), Volusia County cannot be subjected to any further liability for the underlying accident. Plaintiff now seeks to recover her excess damages from Star under the Policy.

B. Procedural History

Plaintiff originally filed this declaratory judgment action in the Seventh Judicial Circuit in and for Volusia County, Florida. (Doc. 2). The Complaint named both Volusia County and Star as Defendants; however, Plaintiff entitled the lone count in her Complaint as "Claim for Declaratory Relief ... Against Star Insurance Company." (Doc. 2, p. 2). Plaintiff sought a judgment declaring the following:

(1) That the Policy of Insurance issued by Star [ ] provided coverage for the automobile negligence of Volusia County employee Thomas Moderie and that Volusia County and Thomas Moderie are "insureds" under the Policy;

(2) That the statutory language in Fla. Stat. § 768.28(5) grants sole authority to Volusia County to settle Erin Joynt's claim within the limits of the Star [ ] Policy and that Star [ ] cannot raise sovereign immunity as a defense to its duty to indemnify Volusia County for Erin Joynt's claim and the jury's mandate and consequential judgment;

(3) That the passage of a claim bill in excess of the sovereign immunity cap is NOT a condition precedent to Star['s] obligation to indemnify Volusia County up to the $5,000,000.00 limits of the Policy;

(4) That Star['s] coverage and indemnity obligations have been triggered by the verdict and judgment in this case;

(5) That Star['s] language prohibiting Volusia County from negotiating and/or settling Erin Joynt's claim is void as against public policy and in violation of Fla. Stat. § 768.28(5) ; and

(6) That Erin Joynt, as a beneficiary under the Policy, is entitled to attorney's fees and costs incurred in this action against Star [ ] and any other relief this Court deems just and proper.

(Doc. 2, pp. 9–10).

On May 27, 2016, Star removed the action to this Court under the Court's diversity jurisdiction. (Doc. 1). Star also filed a Motion to Determine Fraudulent Joinder, arguing that Volusia County was fraudulently joined in an attempt destroy diversity jurisdiction. (Doc. 4). Volusia County filed a Motion to Dismiss, arguing that Plaintiff cannot establish a live case or controversy between Plaintiff and the County and that the County should, therefore, be dismissed from the action. (Doc. 13). On June 22, 2016, Plaintiff moved to remand the case back to the Seventh Judicial Circuit for lack of diversity jurisdiction. (Doc. 14).

While those motions were still pending, Plaintiff filed a Motion to Stay the case, informing the Court that she was pursuing a claims bill from the Florida Legislature and that the passage of a claims bill would moot her action for declaratory relief. (Doc. 25). Because of the pending claims bill, the Court stayed the action until the adjournment of the 2017 legislative session. (Doc. 28).

Following the 2017 legislative session, the Court directed the parties to file a report on the status of the claims bill. (Doc. 30). On May 16, 2017, the parties informed the Court that the Senate Bill ("SB 30") passed its first committee, but that the House Bill ("HB 6543") failed in committee. (Doc. 31). In voting "no" for the claims bill, one Florida House Representative explained that he was waiting to hear the results of the declaratory judgment action pending before this Court:

I want to thank Plaintiff's counsel in this case for filing the dec action, because that is going to answer a question that we continue to keep wrestling with. And there's one thing that everybody at this table agrees with, bipartisan. This is the most bipartisan agreement that we have. The claims process in Florida is ridiculous and we need clarification or else this body needs to decide we're going to clarify it ourselves.

But right now we have a pending Federal dec action[.] [I]t's going to be resolved in about 6 months[.] [T]hat would help us answer that question. That dec action was filed for the purpose of determining whether or not they had to come here on a claims bill because they had an insurance policy that didn't require state involvement in the claims process.

So if that question is answered in the affirmative, that they (Plaintiffs) never had to come to this process, we will then have some guidance if we come back next session and say, ‘We can now safely say that whenever there's an insurance policy out there—paid for by a municipality or county—that covers the sorts of things, you don't have to come to the claims bill process.’ Yay for us. I mean, wouldn't that finality be great?

Normally I would take the position that—I agree with my esteemed colleague to the west of me Representative Grant—that, you know, let's keep this ball moving because it keeps everybody in a posture trying to resolve it, but we're only 6 months away from having a definitive answer and guidance for us in the future.

So, because of that sort of unique posture we find ourselves in, I'm going to vote no on the bill. I want to hear what the feds have say about it and then we can come back and try to fix this process in the future.

(Doc. 45, pp. 11–12). Because the Florida Legislature declined to pass a claims bill due to this pending action, the parties agreed that the stay should be lifted.

On May 23, 2018, the Court dismissed Volusia County from the action. The Court found the Complaint lacked a justiciable controversy between Plaintiff and Volusia County because Volusia County was undisputedly immune from further liability for the underlying accident. The Court also determined that it lacked the authority to decide whether Volusia County had the right to settle Plaintiff's claim, explaining that the Complaint alleged no present, ascertainable facts that demonstrated Volusia County had a bona fide need to enter a settlement agreement. (Doc. 22)

Because the question of whether Volusia County has the ability to enter into a settlement agreement is not properly before the Court, the remaining relief Plaintiff seeks can be summarized in one question: Is the passage of a claims bill a condition precedent to Star's obligation to pay Plaintiff's excess damages?

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A. Summary Judgment Standard

To prevail on a summary judgment...