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Southeast Farms Inc. v. Auto-Owners Insurance Co.6/5/1998
Appeal from the Circuit Court for St. Johns County, Robert K. Mathis, Judge.
Southeast Farms, Inc. appeals from the summary final judgment in favor of Auto-Owners Insurance Company. Auto-Owners instituted this declaratory judgment action, joining Southeast Farms and the plaintiffs in the underlying wrongful death actions, seeking a determination whether it was obligated to defend or indemnify Southeast Farms under the terms of its insurance policy. The trial court found that the accident did not involve the use of the premises specified in the policy and was not incidental to Southeast Farms' business, and thus the policy did not provide coverage for the claims alleged in the underlying complaints. It entered summary judgment in Auto-Owners' favor. On appeal, Southeast Farms contends the policy did cover the incident or, at the least, the policy was ambiguous and should have been construed in favor of coverage. We agree and reverse.
Southeast Farms is a produce broker principally brokering potatoes. Its involvement in the underlying suits stems from the fact that it had brokered the sale of the Alabama-grown potatoes that were in the truck which collided with a Honda Accord in Virginia. The truck driver, John White, was killed, as were the Honda driver, Kathleen Tarbrake, and her six-year-old niece, Kelly Little. The Little and Tarbrake suits assert that Southeast Farms operated the potato farm in Henagar, Alabama, where the potatoes were grown and loaded. They allege that Southeast Farms negligently failed to inspect the condition of the truck on which it loaded its potatoes, negligently failed to determine the qualification of White to operate the tractor-trailer, and negligently failed to comply with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act.
Upon being served with the complaints, Southeast Farms asked Auto-Owners to provide a defense. Auto-Owners refused, asserting that it had no duty to defend under the terms of the endorsement entitled "Limitation of Coverage to Designated Premises or Project." The only premises listed on the supplemental declarations page are Southeast Farms' Hastings and Florida City offices. Regarding these premises, the policy provides:
This insurance applies only to "bodily injury," "property damage," "personal injury," "advertising injury" and medical expenses arising out of:
1. The ownership, maintenance or use of the premises shown in the Schedule and operations necessary or incidental to those premises; . . . .
Auto-Owners contended that the negligence asserted did not arise out of Southeast Farms' operations at the listed Florida premises and thus there was no coverage. It filed the declaratory judgment action to establish its rights and duties under the policy and moved for summary judgment under the terms of the policy.
Southeast Farms also moved for summary judgment. It filed the deposition of its vice president, Gary Allen. That deposition reveals that Southeast Farms is incorporated in Florida and operates out of an office in Hastings, Florida. It also maintains a winter office in Florida City. Gary Allen is a company salesperson. He explained that once he gets an order for a quantity of potatoes, he faxes the order to a farm that has the type of potatoes requested. Then, unless the buyer wants to arrange its own shipping, he contacts a shipping company to transport the potatoes from the supplier to the buyer. Southeast Farms does not grow potatoes, own or maintain any tractor-trailer rigs to transport potatoes, or provide any drivers. Southeast Farms has no ownership interest in Greeson Farms, the Alabama farm which grew the potatoes that were being hauled, nor does it have any ownership i
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