Stella v. Craine, 72-762
| Decision Date | 31 July 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 72-762,72-762 |
| Citation | 281 So.2d 584 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Margaret K. STELLA, Appellant, v. Marvin CRAINE et al., Appellees. . Fourth District |
Harry G. Carratt, of Morgan, Carratt & O'Connor, Ft. Lauderdale, for appellant.
Steven R. Berger and Dieter K. Gunther, of Carey, Dwyer, Austin, Cole & Selwood, Ft. Lauderdale, for appellees.
In this automobile negligence action the jury returned a verdict for plaintiff in the amount of $13,500.00 against all defendants, including the liability insurer. A judgment was entered thereon, but subsequently the court entered an amended final judgment reducing the judgment as against the insurer to the sum of $10,000.00, its policy limits. It is the entry of this amended final judgment which the plaintiff claims on this appeal to be error.
When the insurer filed an answer to the complaint, it admitted the issuance of the liability policy insuring the defendant-owner for all sums which he might be found legally obligated to pay, up to the limits of the policy. The policy limits were not alleged. At a subsequent date the defendants jointly filed a motion for severance of the insurer, which motion stated (1) there was no policy issues between the defendants, and (2) the insurer agreed that should a verdict be returned in favor of the plaintiff, judgment could be entered thereon against the insurer to the extent of the limits of its policy. Again the limits were not disclosed. On plaintiff's motion to produce, the insurer was twice ordered to produce a copy of the policy, but failed to do so. Nonetheless, at the pretrial conference defendant's counsel put plaintiff's counsel on notice of the $10,000.00 policy limit.
After the jury verdict was returned, the defendants timely filed a motion for new trial. While this motion was still pending, plaintiff's counsel caused to be prepared a final judgment against all defendants in the amount of $13,500.00, and had the court enter the judgment on January 26, 1972. On March 6, the court entered the order denying the motion for new trial. On March 14, defendants filed their motion to amend the final judgment so as to reduce the amount of judgment against the insurer to the policy limits of $10,000.00.
Appellant first contends that the motion to amend the final judgment, having been filed more than 10 days after entry of the judgment, could only be entertained by the court under Rule 1.540(b) RCP, 31 F.S.A. and that the motion to amend failed to comply with...
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