U.S. Fire Ins. Co. v. Clearwater Oaks Bank, 82-1609
| Decision Date | 10 November 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-1609,82-1609 |
| Citation | 421 So.2d 783 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, a foreign corporation, Petitioner, v. CLEARWATER OAKS BANK, a Florida banking corporation, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Leslie King O'Neal of Markel, Scott, McDonough & O'Neal, P.A., Orlando, for petitioner.
William L. Lyman, Clearwater, for respondent.
This is a petition for writ of certiorari to review a discovery order.
The petitioner (U.S. Fire) issued a blanket bond on behalf of the respondent (bank). The bank subsequently suffered a loss as a result of giving value to a customer for checks issued on a nonexistent bank in the West Indies. The bank made a claim for the loss under the bond. When U.S. Fire refused to pay the claim, the bank brought suit. In its complaint, the bank sought compensatory damages for its loss and punitive damages for U.S. Fire's "bad faith" in arbitrarily refusing to pay the claim. U.S. Fire's motion to strike the claim for punitive damages was denied.
The bank sought the production of various records from U.S. Fire. Over objection, the court entered an order compelling the production of records falling generally into two categories: (1) U.S. Fire's file involving the claim at issue in the lawsuit; and (2) U.S. Fire's files with respect to claims and lawsuits against U.S. Fire by third parties under similar blanket bonds. We hold that the order requiring the production of these records constituted a departure from the essential requirements of law from which there would be no adequate remedy by appeal. See Manatee County v. Estech General Chemicals Corp., 402 So.2d 75 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981).
In a bad faith suit against an insurance company for failure to settle within the policy limits, the plaintiff may obtain discovery of the original claim file. Stone v. Travelers Insurance Co., 326 So.2d 241 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976). On the other hand, the plaintiff cannot compel disclosure of the carrier's work product, its claim file, where the cause of action is a first party claim for coverage under the policy. Agri-Business v. Bridges, 397 So.2d 394 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). The reason for the distinction is that a claim for bad faith will lie when a carrier fails properly to perform its fiduciary obligation to defend, but a claim for bad faith cannot be prosecuted where the parties simply disagree over whether the claim is covered by the policy. In the latter case, the parties occupy a debtor-creditor...
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