Buckley Towers Condominium, Inc. v. QBE Insurance Corporation , 496 F. App'x 960 ( 2012 )

[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FILED
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
________________________ ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
NOVEMBER 14, 2012
No. 09-13247 JOHN LEY
________________________ CLERK
D. C. Docket No. 07-22988-CV-RWG
BUCKLEY TOWERS CONDOMINIUM, INC.,
Plaintiff-Appellee-
Cross-Appellant,
versus
QBE INSURANCE CORPORATION,
Defendant-Appellant-
Cross-Appellee.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
_________________________
(November 14, 2012)
Before BARKETT and MARCUS, Circuit Judges and HOOD,* District Judge.
*
Honorable Joseph M. Hood, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of
Kentucky, sitting by designation.
PER CURIAM:
Appellee/cross-appellant Buckley Towers Condominium, Inc. (“Buckley
Towers”), the owner of a pair of condominium buildings in Miami-Dade County,
Florida, purchased hurricane insurance from appellant/cross-appellee QBE
Insurance Corp. (“QBE”), but when Hurricane Wilma struck South Florida in
October 2005, QBE did not pay. Buckley Towers sued and, after trial in federal
district court, a jury awarded it nearly $20 million in damages. In a previous
opinion in this case, we resolved the issues raised by QBE, but noted that we were
reserving our judgment on the two issues raised by Buckley Towers on cross-
appeal because another panel of our Court had already certified both of these
questions to the Florida Supreme Court in Chalfonte Condominium Apartment
Ass’n, Inc. v. QBE Ins. Corp., 561 F.3d 1267, 1274-75 (11th Cir. 2009). See
Buckley Towers Condominium, Inc. v. QBE Ins. Corp., 395 F. App’x 659 n.3
(11th Cir. 2010). These two questions involved: (1) whether Florida law
recognizes a claim for breach of the implied warranty of good faith and fair
dealing; and (2) whether an insured may bring a claim against an insurer for failure
to comply with the language and type-size requirements established by Fla. Stat. §
627.701(4)(a).
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The Florida Supreme Court has now answered these two questions in the
negative. See QBE Ins. Corp. v. Chalfonte Condo. Apartment Ass’n Inc., 94 So.
3d 541 (Fla. 2012). Thus, we conclude that the district court did not err in
dismissing Buckley Towers’ claim that QBE breached an implied warranty of good
faith and fair dealing, nor did it err in dismissing the part of Buckley Towers’
declaratory judgment claim pertaining to QBE’s violation of Fla. Stat. §
627.701(4)(a). Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s determinations raised on
cross-appeal.
AFFIRMED.
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