Subrogation & Recovery Law Blog : Insurance Subrogation Lawyer & Attorney : Cozen O'Connor Law Firm : Property Damage & Insurance Commentary

The Third District Court of Appeal of Florida recently brought us closer to clarity on Florida's approach to when a landlord's insurer can sue a tenant.  State Farm of Florida Ins. Co. v. Loo, 2010 WL 445945 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb. 10, 2010).  For the most part, jurisdictions adopt one of three approaches in this context:

                (1) The Sutton Approach ("Anti-Subrogation Rule"): Under this approach, a jurisdiction adopts a bright-line rule barring a landlord's insurer from bringing a subrogation case on the ground that the tenant is deemed an "implied co-insured." Thus, an insurer may not subrogate against its own insured.  The policy behind this approach is that "when fire insurance is provided for a dwelling it protects the insurable interests of all joint owners including the possessory interests of a tenant absent an agreement by the latter to the contrary." Sutton v. Johndahl, 532 P.2d 478 (Ct. App. Ok. 1975). This is the majority rule.

                (2) The Anti-Sutton Approach: The converse of the Sutton Approach is the order of the day in these jurisdictions.  Essentially, absent an express or implied agreement to the contrary, these jurisdictions presume subrogation is permissible. This is the minority rule.

                (3) The Case-by-Case Approach: This is an approach that places great emphasis on the lease provisions in order to determine the intent of the parties as to which party should bear the risk of loss.  This is often referred to as a "middle of the road" approach.

Until recently, it was unclear which of these approaches Florida was applying.  Even today, the Florida Supreme Court has not formally adopted or rejected any.  Instead, the approach in Florida has evolved from a number of different decisions from various Appellate Courts.  The first attempt made to articulate this doctrine came in 1980 when the Third District Court of Appeal held that "a limitation of liability for one's negligent acts cannot be inferred unless such intention is expressed in unequivocal terms."  Tout v. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co., 390 So. 2d 155 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980).  Two subsequent cases revealed an evolution in Florida toward Sutton without a specific adoption of the approach.  See, gen., U.S. Fire Ins. Co. v. Norlin Indus., Inc., 428 So.2d 325 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Continental Ins. Co. v. Kennerson, 861 So.2d 325 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). 

However, the evolution toward Sutton was halted in Loo, supra.  Without overturning Tout or its progeny, the Court in Loo formally adopted the case-by-case approach pointing out that the Tout line of cases looked to the lease provisions to determine the intent of the parties as to who should bear the risk of loss.  In sum, for subrogation against a tenant to proceed, the lease must not contain "unequivocal terms" that the tenant is a co-insured.  Unequivocal terms are those that either (1) exculpate the tenant from liability for its own negligence, (2) require the landlord to maintain insurance for the benefit of the tenant, or (3) shift any risk of loss incurred as the result of the tenant's negligence to the landlord.

Perhaps one day the Supreme Court of Florida will weigh in on this issue with a formal adoption or rejection of one of the three approaches.  Until that day, subrogation against a tenant will be guided by the lease document's unequivocal (or lack thereof) articulation of the intent of the parties as to risk of loss.

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In Fireman’s Insurance Company v. Fire-Free Chimney Sweeps, Inc.,[1] the Court permitted a chimney sweep to pursue a contribution claim against the unit owner whose actions caused or contributed the fire. The chimney sweep, a defendant in the related subrogation action bought by the condominium association's insurer, filed a contribution claim against the unit owner where the fire started. The unit owner argued that he could not be directly liable to the condominium association or any of the individual unit owners pursuant to provisions in the condominium documents and his status as an additional insured under the condominium association’s policy. Therefore, he claimed that he could not be liable for contribution. However, the Court concluded that since the chimney sweep was a stranger to the contract documents, they were not a basis to restrict the chimney sweep’s right of contribution pursuant to the Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasor’s Act. The Court noted that the proper question was not whether the chimney sweep and the unit owner were jointly and severally liable to the association and its insurer but, rather, whether they each performed some act that injured the association itself. 

The decision confirms that in proper circumstances a party protected by a waiver of subrogation may still be liable for damages caused by its negligent acts via a contribution cause of action.

[1] This opinion is yet unpublished. It is identified as Delaware Civil Action No. 07C-06-287-JOH

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As was previously reported, New York Governor Paterson has signed a bill which purports to eliminate the alleged windfall of double recoveries to plaintiffs which were alleged to have resulted from the common-law Collateral Source Rule, which enabled collateral source payors, including subrogating insurers, to recover their losses as part of the damages claimed by injured insureds.  This bill does not impact property damage subrogation claims, which was made clear beyond peradventure by a memorandum prepared by one of the previous sponsoring committees.  The language of the prior sponsor's memo is as follows:

Collateral Source and Subrogation Changes: The various collateral source provisions of the CPLR were enacted to eliminate the common law collateral source rule, which prohibited tortfeasors from reducing their obligations to a plaintiff by the amount of benefits the plaintiff receives from other sources, such as insurance. The statute's purpose is to eliminate the windfall of double recoveries to plaintiffs which often resulted from the common law collateral source rule, while still ensuring that uncompensated losses are fully compensated. Notwithstanding the trend to eliminate the windfalls that result from the common law rule, and to safeguard public monies, presently all defendants except public employers may offset against awards for future costs or expenses any amounts that would with reasonable certainty be replaced or indemnified. This bill would ensure that public employers are treated the same as private employers in tort actions. New York City estimates that it would save $14.5 million annually from this reform.

At present, there is no statutory authority that addresses or limits the extent to which a benefit provider may claim contractual reimbursement or subrogation with respect to medical expenses it has paid pursuant to an insurance contract or other agreement. Likewise, there is no statutory authority that specifies whether or under what circumstances such a benefit provider may intervene as a party in a personal injury or wrongful death action. For example, in a medical malpractice action, a health insurer which has provided coverage to the plaintiff may demand reimbursement for its expenses, often unnecessarily prolonging cases, thwarting settlement talks and making cases more expensive to litigate. Thus, it has become important that a statutory framework be established to facilitate settlement of cases and reduce expenses for litigants. This bill would preclude a benefit provider to seek reimbursement or subrogation against a settling defendant for those benefits paid to or on behalf of plaintiff, unless specifically set forth by statute.  In doing so, this bill would make the savings to defendants more tangible, and allow cases to settle more quickly and without unnecessary expense. This provision of the bill would be applicable to actions for personal injury, medical, dental, or podiatric malpractice, or wrongful death and would be inapplicable to the subrogation of property damage claims. (Emphasis added).

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New York Governor Paterson signed into law New York State Bill A40002, which amends CPLR 4545, New York's Collateral Source Rule.  The bill has many aspects, some of which relate to municipal health benefit plans which are not directly germane to subrogation concerns.  From a subrogation perspective, the bill both maintains existing restrictive language concerning subrogation rights, and further tightens the grounds upon which reimbursement may be obtained.

The pertinent section of the bill references "Any Action Brought To Recover Damages For Personal Injury, Injury To Property Or Wrongful Death…."   It then provides for "limitation of non-statutory reimbursement and subrogation claims in personal injury and wrongful death actions."  This section states that it shall be conclusively presumed that any settlement in a personal injury or wrongful death action does not include any compensation for the cost of healthcare services, loss of earnings or other economic loss to the extent they have been or will be reimbursed by a collateral source payer.  The only exception is when there is a right of reimbursement or subrogation that is statutorily established.

The Act does not purport to restrict rights of subrogation for property damage claims, notwithstanding the somewhat misleading reference to actions for "Injury To Property" in one of the headings.  Indeed, two separate memorandum prepared by bill sponsors explicitly stated that the bill is not applicable to property damage subrogation claims.  The bill was passed as a "program bill," with a truncated memorandum which did not contain this language, but the pertinent memoranda still comprise part of the relevant legislative history for this bill, to the extent any unfounded arguments are made regarding the intended application and scope of this bill.  We shortly will be posting one or both of the sponsor memos with this clear language.

Stay tuned for further developments regarding potential anti-subrogation legislation in other jurisdictions.

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