Federated Mutual Implement and Hardware Insurance Company v. Griffin

Summary

The Florida First District Court of Appeal held that Bonnie Griffin was estopped from asserting in garnishment proceedings that her deceased husband was not acting in the course of his employment. In the underlying wrongful-death action, she had alleged and obtained judgment on the theory that her husband and the defendant were coemployees acting within the scope of employment. The court reversed the garnishment judgment against the insurer and remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. A party is estopped from taking an inconsistent factual position in a later phase of the same litigation when the party previously adopted and successfully relied on the contrary position to obtain a judgment against the same parties or concerning the same subject matter. Mrs. Griffin was therefore estopped from asserting that her husband was not an employee acting in the course of employment at the time of the collision.
2. The estoppel against inconsistent positions is distinct from res judicata and rests on preventing a party from changing a factual position adopted on the record to the prejudice of an adverse party after obtaining a judicial order or judgment based on that position.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a wrongful-death plaintiff who obtained a judgment against the decedent's coemployee by alleging that both employees were acting in the course of employment is estopped in a subsequent garnishment proceeding from asserting the contrary position to avoid a cross-employee exclusion in the employer's liability policy.
2. Whether the insurer's estoppel defenses were improperly stricken in the garnishment proceeding.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded