State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Cook, 99-00518.
| Decision Date | 10 November 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-00518.,99-00518. |
| Citation | 744 So.2d 567 |
| Parties | STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Petitioner, v. Michelle Wallis COOK, Teddy Cook, Lisa Jones, David J. Jones, Eutimio Perez, and Jean Smithers, Respondents. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Lewis F. Collins, Jr. and Anthony J. Russo of Butler Burnette Pappas, Tampa, for Petitioner.
James E. Deakyne, Jr., St. Petersburg, for Respondents.
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company seeks certiorari review of two orders of the trial court, one denying a stay of bad faith claims against it, and the other denying its motion for a protective order. We have jurisdiction. See Michigan Millers Mut. Ins. Co. v. Bourke, 581 So.2d 1368 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991); approved, 607 So.2d 418 (Fla.1992). We quash the order denying the stay of the bad faith claims, and quash, in part, the order denying the motion for a protective order.
State Farm insured Michelle and Teddy Cook, and also insured Lisa Jones, an individual who was involved in a car accident with Michelle Cook. The Cooks executed a release of Jones and State Farm. Subsequent to execution of the release, the Cooks sued State Farm and two alleged tortfeasors, including Jones, for damages resulting from two automobile accidents. The Cooks seek to rescind the release in that action. The Cooks also allege breach of contract and bad faith claims against State Farm.
State Farm filed a motion to stay the bad faith claims until the other claims are resolved, and sought a protective order to avoid production of a number of documents relevant to the bad faith claims, including its claims files, litigation files, and internal operating manuals. The trial court denied both motions.
The trial court erred in denying the motion for stay. These claims against State Farm, both as Jones' insurer and as the Cooks' insurer, do not accrue until the other claims are decided. The supreme court noted in Cunningham v. Standard Guaranty Insurance Co., 630 So.2d 179, 181 (Fla.1994), that ordinarily a third-party is required to prevail against the insured before litigating a bad faith claim against the insurer. Similarly, in Blanchard v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 575 So.2d 1289 (Fla.1991), the court ruled that an insured's first-party action for benefits against the insurer must be resolved before a cause of action for bad faith against the insurer accrues. Id. at 1291.
Because the bad faith claims must be stayed, the...
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