CopyPublished | District Court, N.D. Florida | 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56855
...Liberty Nat. Life Ins. Co.,
267 F.3d 1209, 1220 (11th Cir.2001). Prescott argues four provisions of the *1321 Florida Insurance Code would be impaired if the court enforces the parties' arbitration agreement: Sections
626.905,
626.907,
626.908, and
626.937....
...Sections
626.905,
626.907, and
626.908 are part of the Unauthorized Insurers Process Law ("UIPL") and provide methods of substituted service on unauthorized insurers. [6] They also outline the procedures such companies must follow when sued under the UIPL. [7] Section
626.937 is part of the Surplus Lines Law and provides methods of service when a surplus-lines insurer is sued....
...h the statute; whether either of the statutory requirements could have been met; or why Prescott accepted a contract clearly stating it was issued as a surplus-lines policy. [14] It has not done so. Nor can the court agree with Prescott's claim that §
626.937 of the Surplus Lines Law guarantees it the right to sue a surplus-lines insurer like Lexington in court and that applying the FAA would impair that right. As noted earlier, §
626.937 states that an unauthorized insurer "may be sued upon any cause of action arising. . . under any surplus lines insurance contract issued by it . . . pursuant to the same procedure as is provided in [§]
624.423 as to authorized insurers." [15] Fla. Stat. §
626.937(a). Section
626.937 addresses the means for providing notice of a suit otherwise permitted under Florida law, but it does not establish causes of action or grant a substantive right to file suit....
...at 668, all of which involve substantive rights that arise only after coverage has been established. Obviously, applying the FAA to such rights would impair Florida's insurance law because §
624.155 regulates the relationship between insurers and policyholders. By contrast, §
626.937 is procedural in nature and is not impaired or superceded by Prescott's agreement to arbitrate *1325 issues involving the interpretation of its contract with Lexington. The court further notes that if the FAA invalidated §
626.937, concerning unauthorized insurers, it would also invalidate §
624.423, supra note 15, because §
626.937 specifically incorporates §
624.423's means for serving process on authorized insurers....
...§
626.916(1)(a). Unauthorized out-of-state insurers provide such coverage through in-state "surplus lines agents," who serve as middlemen between the insurer and general-lines agents. See Essex Ins. Co. v. Zota,
985 So.2d 1036, 1040 n. 2 (Fla.2008). Section
626.937 states that an unauthorized insurer "may be sued upon any cause of action arising ....
...siness of insurance and that the statutes Prescott relies on regulate the Florida insurance industry. Their dispute centers on the MFA's third prong of whether the FAA invalidates, impairs, or supercedes Fla. Stat. §§
626.905,
626.907,
626.908, or
626.937....
