Travelers Indem. Co. v. Johnson
| Decision Date | 07 June 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 35898,35898 |
| Citation | 201 So.2d 705 |
| Parties | The TRAVELERS INDEMNITY COMPANY, a Corporation, Petitioner, v. Norma Williams JOHNSON, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
George Stelljes, Jr., of Marks, Gray, Yates, Conroy & Gibbs, Jacksonville, for petitioner.
William B. Dawson, III, and Gerald R. Hart, Jacksonville, for respondent.
This suit for declaratory decree was commenced by Travelers against Norma Williams Johnson to secure a declaratory decree defining petitioner's, Travelers, obligation, if any, to respondent, Johnson. Travelers had issued a policy with uninsured motorist coverage to one Delta Stewart. It was while Johnson was operating the Stewart automobile that an accident occurred when the car and an uninsured one driven by one Louise Taylor collided. Johnson who was injured in the mishap averred a claim against Travelers. Because of the claim and the requirement in the policy that written notice of injury be given, the declaratory decree was sought.
Upon denial of a motion to dismiss, the defendant filed an assortment of defenses. After testimony was taken the circuit court entered a decree favoring Travelers.
When the case reached the District Court of Appeal, First District, the decree was reversed because of the view that the dispute was one purely of fact and not a construction of the policy itself. Sufficiency or insufficiency of the notice to Travelers as required by the policy, said the appellate court, was the only issue involved and such was 'not within the purview of the Declaratory Judgment Statute.' Authorities cited for the conclusion were the decision of this court in Columbia Casualty Co. v. Zimmerman, 62 So.2d 338 (Fla.1852), and the decision of the District Court of Appeal, Third District, in Johnson v. Atlantic National Insurance Co., 155 So.2d 886 (Fla.App.1963).
The controversy reached this court on the assertion by Travelers that the decision of the District Court of Appeal collided with decisions of the District Court of Appeal, Third District, in the cases of Millers Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Texas v. American Fidelity Fire Ins. Co. 178 So.2d 742 (Fla.App.1965), and Bacon v. Crespi, 141 So.2d 823 (Fla.App.1962).
Our study of the pronouncements of this court and of the Third District Court of Appeal leads us to the view that there is sufficient disharmony between the two decisions of the District Court on the one hand and Columbia, supra, on the other hand to vest jurisdiction here.
This attitude recalls our commitment to the rule that once we assume jurisdiction of a cause, we will settle all phases of it, Tyus v. Apalachicola Northern Railroad Co., 130 So.2d 580 (Fla.1961). However, the immediate controversy cannot be so simply resolved. The chancellor disposed of all facets which involved a determination...
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