Dale Dobuler (Partner-Orlando, FL) and Nick Freeman (Partner-Orlando, FL) secured final summary judgment in an insurance coverage action in federal court seeking a declaration of non-coverage for an underlying wrongful death claim involving a commercial auto policy issued to a Florida-based business.  Prior to the coverage action,  plaintiff’s counsel issued a presuit demand of $1 million to the insured and its commercial auto carrier.

Dale and Nick argued that coverage for the plaintiff’s claim was precluded by certain policy exclusions for injuries involving the insured's employees. They filed a declaratory action in US District Court.

After establishing that the injury arose from or was directly connected to the deceased’s employment with the insured, the Court granted the carrier’s motion for summary judgment against the insured on two independent grounds. First, the insured failed to timely respond to the motion, despite being advised that failure to do so would render the motion unopposed under the applicable local rules. The Court therefore granted the motion as unopposed. Second, the Court granted the motion on the merits, adopting the reasoning set forth in the carrier’s motion and finding that the undisputed record established that the accident fell outside the policy’s coverage. Specifically, the Court determined that the insured was not entitled to coverage as a matter of law because the policy clearly excluded coverage for the accident under three separate exclusions. The order therefore fully resolved the declaratory coverage issue against the insured and established a lack of coverage for the claim.