State Farm Fire and Cas. Co. v. De Londono, 86-152
| Decision Date | 09 June 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-152,86-152 |
| Citation | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1444,511 So.2d 604 |
| Parties | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1444 STATE FARM FIRE AND CASUALTY COMPANY, Appellant, v. Ines DE LONDONO, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Walton, Lantaff, Schroeder & Carson and Lawrence D. Smith, Miami, for appellant.
Horton, Perse & Ginsberg and Edward Perse; Stone & Sostchin, Miami, for appellee.
Before DANIEL S. PEARSON, FERGUSON and JORGENSON, JJ.
A claim for personal property loss was brought under a homeowner's policy containing an exclusions clause which provided, "We do not cover [content] property regularly rented or held for rental to others...." The facts show that the insured homeowner leased out the home and furnishings for one year on a one-time basis while out of the country on a business trip. During that period the furnishings were destroyed by fire. An issue arose as to whether the home was regularly rented. That question was submitted to the jury. The insurer brings this appeal from a judgment entered on a jury verdict for the insured contending that construction of the contract presented a question of law which the court should have decided in the insured's favor. We disagree.
Although the construction of a contract is ordinarily a matter of law, where the terms of a written instrument are disputed and are reasonably susceptible to more than one construction, an issue of fact is presented. Quayside Associates, Ltd. v. Harbour Club Villas Condominium Assoc., 419 So.2d 678 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982). The instant policy did not define "regularly rented"; the parties disagreed as to what the term meant; and the trial court was of the view, correctly, that the term was reasonably susceptible to more than one meaning. It was, thus, proper to submit the question to the jury to be decided as an issue of fact. Hoffman v. Terry, 397 So.2d 1184 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981).
Affirmed.
The crucial language of the policy, i.e., "property regularly rented or held for rental to others," is not amenable to multiple constructions. This language is not ambiguous. It is clear that pursuant to this language a one-year rental of the subject property qualified as "property regularly rented or held for rental to others." The fact that an insurance policy requires analysis to comprehend its scope does not mean it is ambiguous. Hess v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 458...
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...to extrinsic facts, the ambiguity must be resolved by the trier of fact with proper instructions. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. De Londono, 511 So.2d 604, 605 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987); Zarranz v. Coral Gables Hosp., Inc., 591 So.2d 323, 324 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991); Location 100, Inc., 517 So.2d at 705......
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