Typical exclusion to Florida car accident insurance policies. What you should know?

Different policies may have some differing terms or exclusions between them. However, the normal exclusions that you are most likely to encounter in most insurance policies include: The motor vehicle is being used in the automobile business; The motor vehicle is being used to carry persons for a charge; The parties are in a fellow employee status at the time of the accident; The party filing the claim is an employee of the insured; The person injured and filing the claim is either the insured or a member of the insured’s family; or The property is under the control of the insured or rented to or transported by the insured.

If a vehicle is being used by an employees of a repair shop while an Plam Beach County car accident injury occurs, the owner of the shop will not be responsible for the injured party. This is called the “automobile service exclusion” or the “shop rule”. For example if you take you car to the dealer and the dealer employees while test driving the car gets in to an accident and hurts some one you are not going to be held liable. But if you authorize your out employee to take the car to the dealer and your own employee gets in to an accident on the way, then coverage will probably apply and your insurance company will have to get you out of a jam. Similarly, if you give your car to the valet at the local restaurant and then a car accident occurs while the valet is driving the car you probably will not be held liable, see Baptista v. Enterprise Leasing Co., 707 So.2d 397

The automobile business, coverage will normally only apply to people in the class of “named insureds” (again this means the insured, spouse, and resident relatives) and agents or employees of these persons. An “automobile business” will typically include sales and leasing, repair and servicing, and parking operations. Colonial Penn Insurance Co. v. Castillo, 362 So.2d 88 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978). Typical examples where you will see the automobile business exclusion applied are when the vehicle has been left at a garage for repairs and one of the employees or someone helping the employee is injured. This is typically referred to as the “shop rule” exception because the owner typically leaves their car at the repair shop and thus relinquishes her liability until it is back in her control. However, when a person authorizes another to transport a car for service and “servicing, service-related testing, or service-related transport,” Florida courts have held that the owner remains in control of the vehicle until it reaches the shop. Michalek v. Shumate, 524 So.2d 426 (Fla. 1988).

The employee exclusion applies when the person making a claim is an employee of the insurer although there is an exception is for certain domestic employees. What it basically means is that if you have Auto insurance and your employee gets in to an accident in your car, there may be a coverage exclusion. For a fellow employee, injuries sustained because of the negligent “horseplay” may be covered. However, injuries that occur when both parties are within their course of employment are not recoverable if the policy has an employee exclusion cluse. Greathead v. Asplundh Tree Expert Co., 473 So.2d 1380 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). Other methods for getting the insurance company to pay is if you can prove that the purported employee is not employee at all, that he is in-fact a independent contractor, you have to look at control, method of pay, hours etc. If you can prove that the employee was in-fact an independent contractor then there may be coverage. Strickland v. Progressive American Insurance Co., 468 So.2d 525.

The household exclusion is probably one of the most litigated exclusions within any insurance policy. This exclusion denies coverage when the injured person is either the insured or a member of the insured’s family. In a significant case, Allstate Insurance Co. v. Baker, 543 So.2d 847 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989)., when a daughter was injured because of the negligence of a family friend driving the insured vehicle with the insureds’ permission, the daughter was not allowed coverage because of the household exception.

When ever you have to deal with a potential household member exclusion, you should look closely at how long the claimant has been living at the other insured house, for example in First Floridian Auto & Home Insurance Co., v. Thompson., 763 So.2d 407 the insured’s daughter who stayed at his house for a period of several months while going through a divorce was not considered a member of the insured’s household and coverage was deemed to apply. Other facts such as mailing address, meals, laundry place of sleep etc are also relevant an must be examined when dealing with the household exclusion.

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