Kapral v. Geico Indemnity Company

Filing 285

ORDER denying 277 Plaintiff's Motion for New Trial. Signed by Judge James S. Moody, Jr. on 3/9/2017. (LN)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION
CORY R. KAPRAL,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No: 8:13-cv-2967-T-36AAS

GEICO INDEMNITY COMPANY,
Defendant.

ORDER
THIS CAUSE comes before the Court on Plaintiff's Cory Kapral's Motion for New
Trial (Doc. 277) and Defendant GEICO Indemnity Company's Response (Doc. 284).
Having considered the Motion, Response, and relevant law, the Court concludes the
Motion should be denied.
Plaintiff argues the Court should grant a new trial because the Court (1) improperly
directed a verdict on his inadequate defense claim; (2) gave or failed to give proper jury
instructions; and (3) disregarded a prior summary judgment order by allowing Defendant
to argue a legally invalid affirmative defense. Only the first of these arguments merit
discussion. 1
Plaintiff’s argument that one of his defense counsel—who did not represent Plaintiff
in the underlying trial—was negligent does not state a claim against Defendant for

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The Court denies the second and third arguments for the reasons stated on the record and
the reasons argued in GEICO’s response.

providing an inadequate defense. That is because Defendant cannot be held vicariously
liable for the professional negligence of the independent defense counsel it provided;
rather, Defendant satisfied its obligations by providing competent counsel who can
adequately defend Plaintiff. Marlin v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 761 So. 2d 380, 381
(Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2000) (citing Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Protective Nat. Ins. Co. of
Omaha, 631 So. 2d 305, 306 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1993), on reh'g in part (Feb. 8, 1994));
and Zurich Am. Ins. Co. v. Frankel Enterprises, 287 F. App'x 775, 779 (11th Cir. 2008).
Thus, the Court did not err in directing a verdict in favor of Defendant on this count.
Accordingly, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Plaintiff’s Motion for New
Trial (Doc. 277) is DENIED.
DONE and ORDERED in Tampa, Florida, this 9th day of March, 2017.

Copies furnished to:
Counsel/Parties of Record

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