Defending
Your
Policies

Successfully defended rental car company in Declaratory Judgment Action which challenged the constitutionality of section 324.021 (9), Florida Statutes claiming the cap on damages of a lessor of a short term rental agreement violates equal protection, the right to trial by jury, due process and access to the courts. Pursuant to this provision, a short term lessor can be held vicariously liable, under the dangerous instrumentality doctrine, for the actions of the driver up to $100,000 per person, up to $300,000 per incident for bodily injury and up to $50,000 for property damage.  The Court agreed and found that limiting vicarious liability does not equate to the denial of access to the courts.

Trucking company claimed its subcontractor, a trailer rental company, was covered under our client’s CGL policy for negligent acts relating to the accident.  We prevailed on the position that the acts were not covered per the auto exclusion within the policy, despite the GC’s contention that other acts of negligence triggered coverage.

Hawk Termite & Pest Control, Inc. v. Old Republic Insurance Company, 596 So.2d 96 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992): Successfully defended a declaratory action filed by the insured following our client’s (insurer) denial of coverage based. The denial was based on the act in question being outside the definition of covered losses per the applicable insurance policy. Following summary judgment being entered in favor of our client, the insured filed an appeal with the 3rd District Court of Appeal. Our firm successfully defended the appeal, with the appellate court affirming summary judgment for our client.