INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLANT,
v.
JEFF MASON AND SOUTH CAROLINA INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 1983-12-09
No. 83-1175
OTT, C.J., and SCHEB, J., concur.
442 So. 2d 379 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1983) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

International Insurance Company sought reversal of summary judgment against it for coverage under its homeowner's policy for injuries sustained when a motorboat suspended on davits fell. The court reversed, holding that the boat was not in "storage" when the accident occurred, meaning the homeowner's policy's watercraft exclusion applied and the insurer was not liable.


Holding

The court held that the boat was not stored at the time of the accident because storage requires a certain degree of permanency, and the boat was periodically removed from the davits for regular use. Therefore, the watercraft exclusion in the homeowner's policy applied, relieving International Insurance of liability.


Headnotes

[1] A homeowner's insurance policy exclusion for watercraft does not apply when the watercraft is stored.

[2] The term "stored" in the context of insurance coverage for watercraft implies a degree of permanency.

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Key Quotes

“"stored" or "storage" denotes a certain degree of permanency”

Establishes the legal standard for what constitutes storage under insurance policies

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Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiff was lowering his father's 26-foot motorboat from davits to the water when one of the supporting cables snapped, causing severe head and face…

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Opinion of the Court
LEHAN, Judge.

LEHAN, Judge.

The trial court granted summary judgment to plaintiff-appellee, Jeff Mason, against one of the defendants, appellant International Insurance Company. We reverse.

This action arose out of an accident that occurred while plaintiff was putting his father’s 26-foot motorboat into the water. The boat was kept on davits on the father’s property. The boat was suspended from the davits by cables. On the day of the accident, plaintiff lowered the boat to the water from the davits. While the boat was still supported by the davits, one of the cables snapped, causing severe injuries to plaintiff’s head and face.

Plaintiff sued his father and two insurers of his father’s property. One of the defendants, appellee South Carolina Insurance Company, insured the father’s boat with a policy providing liability coverage for injuries arising out of the ownership, maintenance, and use of the boat. Appellant insured the father with a homeowner’s insurance policy. The homeowner’s policy excluded from coverage injuries arising out of the ownership, maintenance, use, loading or unloading of certain described watercraft, the description of which would include the boat involved in this accident. However, the homeowner’s policy also provided that the watercraft exclusion “does not apply while the watercraft is stored....”

Naturally a major issue in this case was whether the accident occurred while the boat was “stored,” which would mean that the watercraft exclusion in the homeowner’s policy would not apply, i.e., there would be homeowner’s coverage, or whether the accident happened during the use of the boat, which would mean that the exclusion in the homeowner’s policy would apply and that the coverage of the boat liability policy would be applicable. The trial court’s summary judgment against appellant implicitly (but not expressly) found that the accident occurred while the boat was stored. We disagree. We have been unable to find any Florida case which defines the term “stored” or “storage” in this context. Other jurisdictions which have considered the issue seem to have decided that “stored” or “storage” denotes a certain degree of permanency. For example, in Smith v. O’Brien, 46 Misc. 325, 94 N.Y.S. 673 (1905), the owner of an automobile kept his car at a commercial garage which was in the business of buying, selling, storing, and repairing automobiles. The garage kept the car for about seven months, during which time the vehicle’s owner periodically removed the car from the garage to use it. The New York court decided that the car was not stored, stating that the vehicle had been “continuously or occasionally upon the road at its owner’s pleasure.” Id. at 675. See also Williams v. Grier, 196 Ga. 327, 26 S.E. 2d 698 (1943) (truck periodically parked on the street for one and one-half days is not stored); State v. Breidenbach, 5 Ohio App.2d 52, 213 N.E. 2d 745 (1964) (“storage of automobiles indicates a certain degree of permanency ... ‘parking’ connotes transcience”).

In the present action, the element of permanency is lacking. The record shows that the boat was periodically removed from the davits and operated on the water and, in fact, that it had been so used on the day before the accident. The boat’s attachment to the davits was not permanent or long-term.

Because the boat was not stored at the time of the accident, the watercraft exclusion to the homeowner’s policy would apply and would relieve appellant from liability.

REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT HEREWITH.

OTT, C.J., and SCHEB, J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Nock, 610 So. 2d 702 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
    …o be in active ordinary use”. This definition of “dead storage” applied by the trial court is inadequate because it fails to connote the element of permanence generally recognized as a condition of dead storage. See, International Ins. Co. v. Mason, 442 So. 2d 379 (Fla. 2d DCA1983); Noralyn O. Harlow, Annotation, Liability Insurance: When Is Vehicle in “Dead Storage”, 48 A.L.R.4th 591 (1986). Genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether the Buick was in “dead storage” at the time of the fire. Appellee…
  • Castro v. Miami-Dade Cnty. Code Enf't, 844 So. 2d 784 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003)
    …ing.” Section 33-20(e)(1) of the county code thus contemplates a placing away of boats for a considerable period, and not for a brief placement. This conclusion is reinforced by the Second District Court’s opinion in International Ins. Co. v. Mason, 442 So. 2d 379 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983), that “stored” and “storage” contemplate a certain degree of permanency. International cites as persuasive State v. Breidenbach, 5 Ohio App.2d 52, 213 N.E. 2d 745 (1964) and Williams v. Grier, 196 Ga. 327, 26 S.E. 2d 698 (1943). I…

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