AMERICAN FIRE & MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, LTD., APPELLANT,
v.
PATRICIA EISING, AND MARINE MARKETING SERVICES, INC., APPELLEES
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The court held that an unsworn acknowledgment is insufficient to support a motion to quash service of process under the Unauthorized Insurers Process Law.
Appellee obtained a judgment against an insured and then sued the insurer for bad faith. The insurer, a foreign carrier, moved to quash service of pro…
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GLICKSTEIN, Judge.
We write again to remind counsel that an affidavit is more than an acknowledgment. In the former, one swears to the truth of what is stated; in the latter, one acknowledges execution for the purposes expressed, e.g., a deed or mortgage.
In this case, appellee obtained a judgment against appellant’s insured for injuries sustained in a boating accident. She then filed a separate suit against the appellant for bad faith.
Plaintiff s complaint alleges that the appellant is a foreign insurance carrier not authorized to do business in the state of Florida, but that it did engage in insurance business in Florida when it issued an insurance policy to its insured, a Florida resident, and delivered the policy to the insured in Florida. Plaintiff served the complaint on the Insurance Commissioner, pursuant to the Unauthorized Insurers Process Law, sections 626.904-.912, Florida Statutes (1995). Attached to the complaint was a copy of the policy, which shows a Florida address for the insured.
Appellant filed a motion to quash along with a purported affidavit of appellant’s manager, which was nothing more than an un-sworn acknowledgement before a U.S. Vice-Counsel in Dublin, Ireland. Accordingly, its unsworn assertion that the insurer did not deliver the policy in Florida proves nothing.
Appellant having failed to produce a record of the hearing on its motion, we are left with an unrefuted, albeit unsworn, complaint. Substitute service on Florida’s Insurance Commissioner is permitted under the Unauthorized Insurers Process Law where a foreign insurer has “by mail or otherwise” issued and delivered a contract of insurance to a resident of Florida. § 626.906, Fla.Stat. (1995). Accordingly, we affirm.
WARNER and FARMER, JJ., concur.
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Borden v. East-European Ins. Co., 921 So. 2d 587 (Fla. 2006)…ter, 181 F. 3d at 1204-05 (stating that section 626.906 is limited to insurance policies issued to Florida residents); Parmalee v. Iowa State Traveling Men's Ass'n, 206 F. 2d 518, 522 (5th Cir.1953) (same); American Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Eising, 673 So. 2d 493, 494 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996) ("Substitute service on Florida’s Insurance Commissioner is permitted under the [*594] Unauthorized Insurers Process Law where a foreign insurer has 'by mail or otherwise’ issued and delivered a contract of insurance to a re…
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East-European Ins. Co. & Alfa Ins. PLC v. Borden, 884 So. 2d 233 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004)…lorida, standing alone, was not sufficient to bring the foreign insurer within the purview of section 626.906 because insured was also required to show that the policy was issued and delivered in Florida); Am. Fire & Marine Ins. Co., Ltd. v. Eising, 673 So. 2d 493, 494 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996) (“Substitute service on Florida’s Insurance Commissioner is permitted under [the UIPL] where a foreign insurer has ‘by mail or otherwise’ issued and delivered a contract of insurance to a resident of Florida.”); Bookman v. K…
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Eli Ben-Aziz v. Haim Polani, 710 So. 2d 125 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)…cer authorized by the statute to take an affidavit. It was therefore insufficient to challenge jurisdiction under the procedure set forth in Venetian Salami Co. v. Parthenais, 554 So. 2d 499 (Fla.1989). See American Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Eising, 673 So. 2d 493 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996). Even accepting the affidavit, appellant has failed to refute the allegations in the amended complaint that he operated, conducted, engaged in, or carried on a “business or business venture in this state” within the meaning of s…