Florida Supreme Court Holds that an Estate has Standing to Sue for Breach of an Employment Contract

After someone passes away may their estate have standing (the right to bring an action) to sue under an employer liability policy for breach of contract? The Florida Supreme Court recently answered this as certified question. In the case of Morales v. Zenith Ins. Co., 2014 WL 6836320 (Fla. Dec. 4, 2014) the Supreme Court answered in the affirmative. Remember your rights to sue do not extinguish after you die but they are severely limited by several Florida and Federal statutes which hem in the rights of an estate and its representatives in comparison to the rights of a natural person. Last December the Supreme Court of Florida dealt a victory to litigious estate’s everywhere.

• An employee was killed while working for his employer.
• The employee’s estate brought a wrongful death lawsuit against the decedent’s employer, alleging that the employer’s negligence caused the decedent’s death.
• The estate obtained a default judgment against the employer.
• After the employer’s liability insurer refused to pay the judgment, the estate sued the insurer, alleging that the insurer breached the policy.
• The trial court entered summary judgment in the insurer’s favor, finding that the policy’s workers’ compensation exclusion barred the estate’s suit.
• The estate appealed to the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which concluded that it was unclear under Florida law whether the estate had standing to sue the employer’s insurer and certified the question to the Florida Supreme Court.

When lower courts are unsure what the law of Florida is they can certify questions to the Supreme Court of Florida. Here a Federal Court was unsure how to apply Florida law.

1. The Florida Supreme Court answered the certified question in the affirmative, finding that the estate did have standing to sue for breach of contract under the employer’s liability policy.
2. It found that under Florida law, a judgment creditor has standing to bring suit against a liability insurer that may have coverage for the judgment. Because the estate had obtained a judgment against the decedent’s employer, it had standing to bring a direct action against the employer’s insurer to recover that judgment.

Florida Wrongful Death law is very limiting in the rights it alots to survivors to collect damages. This case substantially broadens the rights to recovery following a Wrongful Death. Furthermore though this decision was not limited to wrongful death actions. To the contrary the decision states that an estate can sue for breach of an employment contract, as such a breach may be actionable by an estate in a variety of other circumstances as well for a variety of actions in insurance and possibly otherwise.