Intervest Construction of JAX, Inc. v. General Fidelity Insurance Company , 746 F.3d 1261 ( 2014 )

Case: 10-12613 Date Filed: 03/28/2014 Page: 1 of 6
[PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 10-12613
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 3:09-cv-00894-HES-JRK
INTERVEST CONSTRUCTION OF JAX, INC.,
et. al.
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
versus
GENERAL FIDELITY INSURANCE COMPANY,
Defendant-Appellee.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
________________________
(March 28, 2014)
Before CARNES, Chief Judge, TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge, and MICKLE, ∗ District
Judge.
∗
The Honorable Stephan P. Mickle, United States District Judge for the Northern District of
Florida, sitting by designation. Judge Mickle did not participate in the decision; it is rendered by
quorum. See 28 U.S.C. § 46(d) (2012).
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PER CURIAM:
I.
The controversy in this case is between an insurer, General Fidelity
Insurance Company, and its insureds, Intervest Construction of Jax, Inc. and ICI
Homes, Inc. (collectively “ICI”), regarding whether General Fidelity breached its
obligations under a general liability insurance policy held by ICI.
The coverage dispute at issue arose from a personal injury suit brought
against ICI by Katherine Ferrin, who purchased and lived in a home built by ICI.
During the construction of Ferrin’s residence, ICI hired Custom Cuttings, Inc. to
install the attic stairway. Pursuant to its subcontract with ICI, Custom Cuttings
agreed to indemnify ICI from any damages or claims brought against ICI as a
result of Custom Cuttings’s negligence. In April 2007, Ferrin received serious
injuries from a fall while using the attic stairs installed by Custom Cuttings. She
brought suit solely against ICI. In turn, ICI sought indemnification from Custom
Cuttings pursuant to the terms of their subcontract. At the time of Ferrin’s
accident, ICI held a general liability insurance policy with General Fidelity (the
“General Fidelity Policy”) and Custom Cuttings held a general liability insurance
policy with North Pointe Insurance Company.
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The terms of the General Fidelity Policy included a Self-Insured Retention
endorsement (“the SIR endorsement”), requiring ICI to pay $1 million towards its
own losses before General Fidelity had a duty to defend or indemnify ICI for any
occurrence or event.1 The General Fidelity Policy also contained a transfer-of-
rights provision giving General Fidelity subrogation rights over certain ICI
claims. 2
On July 7, 2009 a mediation was held involving Ferrin, ICI, Custom
Cuttings, General Fidelity, and North Pointe. As a result of this mediation, a
settlement agreement was reached wherein ICI and General Fidelity agreed to pay
Ferrin $1.6 million as full and final settlement of her claims against ICI, Custom
Cuttings, General Fidelity, and North Pointe. As indemnity, Custom Cuttings and
North Pointe agreed to pay $1 million (the “Custom Cuttings Payment”) to ICI and
General Fidelity in exchange for a release from any liability arising under the
Ferrin lawsuit.
A dispute arose between ICI and General Fidelity regarding to whom the
Custom Cuttings Settlement Payment should be payable and whether ICI could use
1
The full text of the SIR endorsement can be found at Intervest Constr. of Jax, Inc. v.
Gen. Fid. Ins. Co., 662 F.3d 1328, 1333–35 (11th Cir. 2011).
2
The transfer-of-rights provision found in the General Fidelity Policy reads as follows:
If the insured has rights to recover all or part of any payment we have made under this
Coverage Part, those rights are transferred to us. The insured must do nothing after loss
to impair them. At our request, the insured will bring “suit” or transfer those rights to us
and help us enforce them.
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the Custom Cuttings Payment to satisfy the SIR endorsement. In order to resolve
Ferrin’s claim, ICI and General Fidelity tabled their dispute and agreed to release
the Custom Cuttings Payment––which was being held in trust––to Ferrin and to
each fund $300,000 towards the $1.6 million settlement agreement. Both ICI and
General Fidelity reserved all claims and defenses against one another with respect
to the coverage provided by the General Fidelity Policy.
II.
After the full $1.6 million settlement payment was delivered to Ferrin, ICI
filed suit in the Circuit Court of the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida against
General Fidelity for breach of contract, requesting a declaratory judgment that its
claim to the Custom Cuttings payment is superior to General Fidelity’s and that it
is entitled to apply the Custom Cuttings payment towards the SIR endorsement in
the General Fidelity Policy. General Fidelity removed the case to the United States
District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
After hearing arguments, the District Court found in favor of General
Fidelity, concluding that ICI had not satisfied the SIR obligation because the
payment had originated from another party. Intervest Constr. of Jax, Inc., v. Gen.
Fid. Ins. Co., No. 3:09-cv-00894-HES-JRK, Order at 8 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 22, 2010).
On appeal, we determined that the resolution of this dispute depends on
unanswered questions of Florida law. Intervest Constr. of Jax, Inc., v. Gen. Fid.
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Ins. Co., 662 F.3d 1328, 1332 (11th Cir. 2011). In light of the absence of
controlling precedent from the Supreme Court of Florida, we certified two
questions for resolution: 3 “1) Does the General Fidelity Policy allow the insured to
apply indemnification payments received from a third-party towards satisfaction of
its $1 million Self-Insured Retention? [and] 2) Assuming that funds received
through an indemnification clause can be used to offset the Self-Insured Retention,
does the transfer of rights provision found in the General Fidelity Policy grant
superior rights to be made whole to the insured or to the insurer?” Id.
On February 6, 2014 the Supreme Court of Florida issued a decision
answering both of these questions. Intervest Constr. of Jax, Inc., v. Gen. Fid. Ins.
Co., No. SC11-2320 (Fla. 2014). In its decision, the Supreme Court of Florida
concluded that (1) “the General Fidelity policy allows the insured to apply
indemnification payments received from a third party towards satisfaction of its $1
million self-insured retention,” id. at *19, and (2) “the transfer of rights provision
in the policy does not abrogate the made whole doctrine, thereby preserving ICI’s
right of priority,” id. at *25.
In light of the Supreme Court’s answers, the final judgment of the District
Court is
3
The Florida Constitution allows the Florida Supreme Court to consider a certified
question if it “is determinative of the cause and for which there is no controlling precedent of the
supreme court of Florida.” Fla. Const. art. V, § 3(b)(6); see also Stevens v. Battelle Mem’l Inst.,
488 F.3d 896, 904 (11th Cir. 2007).
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REVERSED.
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