CopyCited 11 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 1994 WL 515723
...Hobbs also contends that the trial court erred in ruling that it had jurisdiction to determine the plaintiffs' claims against AFSLIC under the provisions of the Insurers Rehabilitation and Liquidation Act. Specifically, Hobbs contends that, because no ancillary receiver had been appointed in Florida, section 631.171 of the Act required all claims against AFSLIC to be filed before its domiciliary receiver in Missouri....
...FIGA,
400 So.2d at 814-16 (footnote and citations omitted). See also Springer v. Colburn,
162 So.2d at 515; Insurance Commissioner of California v. Department of Insurance,
411 So.2d 269, 272 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). In accordance with this principle, prior to 1983, section
631.171 required persons with claims against a foreign insurer which had been placed into receivership to file their claims in the foreign insurer's domiciliary state unless an ancillary receiver had been appointed in Florida. See, e.g., Financial International Life Insurance Co. v. Beta Trust Corp.,
405 So.2d 306, 308 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981) (citing §
631.171, Fla....
...2d DCA 1963) (suit for specific performance of contract for sale of Florida realty could properly be maintained against Michigan insurance company notwithstanding Michigan's subsequent appointment of rehabilitator under provisions of Uniform Insurers Liquidation Act). In 1983, however, Florida's legislature amended section 631.171 to provide: (1) In a liquidation proceeding in a reciprocal state against an insurer domiciled in that state, claimants against the insurer who reside within this state may file claims either with the ancillary receiver, if any, in this state or with the domiciliary receiver... . (2) Claims belonging to claimants residing in this state may be proved either in the domiciliary state under the law of that state or in the ancillary proceeding, if any, in this state... . § 631.171, Fla....
...g." [9] Under the *1158 Act, delinquency proceedings include liquidation, rehabilitation, reorganization and conservation. §
631.011(5), Fla. Stat. (1993). Thus, in amending the statute, the legislature narrowed the type of proceeding covered under section
631.171 to liquidation proceedings. The current version of section
631.171 also applies only to "a liquidation proceeding." §
631.171, Fla....
...a receiver has been appointed in the domiciliary state "for the purpose of liquidating the business of such insurer." Florida Insurance Guaranty Ass'n v. Department of Insurance,
400 So.2d 813, 817 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). Under the foregoing analysis, section
631.171 arguably would have divested the trial *1159 court of jurisdiction if Hobbs had been appointed for the purpose of liquidating AFSLIC; however, it is undisputed that Hobbs was appointed for the purpose of rehabilitating AFSLIC. The trial court, therefore, did not err in denying Hobbs' motion to dismiss under section
631.171 of the Insurers Rehabilitation and Liquidation Act....
...[9] The comparable Missouri statute, on the other hand, still refers to "delinquency proceeding." Mo. Ann. Stat. § 375.966 (Vernon 1994). We note that the various amendments to the Insurers Rehabilitation and Liquidation Act passed by Florida's legislature since 1959 may have undermined the Act's goal of uniformity. [10] Section 631.171, Florida Statutes (1993), provides: (1) In a liquidation proceeding in a reciprocal state against an insurer domiciled in that state, if a notice to file claims has been issued by the Florida receiver pursuant to s....
...at state or in the ancillary proceeding, if any, in this state... . (3) If a notice to file claims has not been issued by the Florida receiver pursuant to s.
631.181(3), claims shall be proved and filed before the domiciliary receiver. [11] Although section
631.171 does not prevent the plaintiffs from bringing this action against AFSLIC, section
631.201 does prevent the plaintiffs, during the pendency of AFSLIC's rehabilitation proceeding in Missouri, from bringing any "action or proceeding in the nature of an attachment, garnishment, or execution ... in the courts of this state against [AFSLIC] or its assets." §
631.201, Fla. Stat. (1993). Unlike section
631.171, section
631.201's prohibition applies to all delinquency proceedings, not just liquidation proceedings....
