Thursday, November 4, 1999
Auto-Owners Insurance Co. v. Karen Anderson

No. 95,337

Marion County


Facts
On December 7, 1996,Anderson was severely injured on I-75 when a car in which she was a passenger swerved off the road trying to avoid a tractor-trailer rig pulling into the same lane. The owner of the rig held an insurance policy providing maximum coverage of $750,000 for each occurrence. Anderson sought $1.5 million based on her contention that the tractor and the trailer were each separately covered vehicles. The federal trial court found that the insurance policy language was ambiguous as to the amount of coverage under these circumstances and therefore determined that the $750,000 policy limit was available for each of the covered vehicles. The U.S. Eleventh Circuit certified questions to the Florida Supreme Court on Appeal.