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Aguero v. First American Insurance Co.9/7/2005
Before RAMIREZ and CORTIÑAS, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.
The plaintiffs, Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. ("Ryder") and Norma Aguero ("Aguero"), as personal representative of the Estate of Ambrosio Iglesias ("Iglesias"), appeal from a final summary judgment in favor of the defendant, First American Insurance Company ("First American"), on a claim for coverage and liability insurance proceeds. We reverse.
Iglesias was a tractor trailer driver for Miami Services Express ("MSE"). On September 1, 1995, Iglesias was injured after he exited the tractor trailer to check on a rear tire and the tire exploded. The tractor portion of the truck was owned by MSE and the trailer portion was owned by Ryder.
MSE was listed as a named insured and Ryder was listed as an "additional" insured on a First American liability policy. On September 6, 1995, MSE's insurance agent sent an auto loss report to First American's claims adjuster. The auto loss report noted a claim number for Iglesias and also contained an accident report completed by Ryder describing Iglesias as the "injured."
On December 29, 1995, Iglesias' attorney sent a letter to First American giving notice of the accident, advising that Iglesias was making a personal injuries claim, and requesting a disclosure of the policy information from First American. On that same day, First American sent a certified copy of the policy to Iglesias' attorney. On January 24, 1996, Iglesias' attorney requested a personal injury protection ("PIP") application and First American responded by faxing him an application. Thereafter, First American paid PIP benefits to Iglesias.
Ryder's claim file for Iglesias contains a computerized telephone message dated July 30, 1996, concerning a conversation between First American's claims adjuster and Ryder's claims adjuster. The parties dispute what the telephone conversation entailed. Ryder alleges that First American's claims adjuster informed Ryder's claims adjuster that First American would not cover property damages for Ryder's trailer or provide liability insurance coverage to protect Ryder against any potential claims brought by Iglesias. On the other hand, First American argues that the telephone conversation only concerned coverage for property damages, not liability.
On March 24, 1997, Iglesias filed a personal injury action against Ryder. On December 15, 1997, Ryder subpoenaed First American's PIP file. First American claims that Ryder and Iglesias mediated the case and eventually reached a settlement agreement in principal and amount by December 1998. However, Ryder claims that the agreement was tentative and "was not consummated," which is supported by the fact that discovery continued in Iglesias' case against Ryder and the settlement agreement was not approved by the trial court until March 2000.
On April 26, 1999, Ryder's attorney sent First American a letter stating that Ryder was an additional insured under the policy and requesting that First American indemnify Ryder in the lawsuit it had to defend against Iglesias. First American subsequently requested that Ryder provide it with a copy of the complaint, which Ryder eventually provided. First American investigated the matter and, on May 19, 1999, mailed a certified letter to Ryder reserving its right to deny or limit coverage on the basis that 1) Ryder was not an insured and, therefore, not entitled to indemnification, 2) an employee exclusion provision in the policy may preclude coverage for Ryder, and 3) Ryder did not provide First American with prompt notice of Iglesias' lawsuit against Ryder, as the April 26, 1999 letter was the first notice to First American.
On May 20, 1999, R
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