Court Nixes Florida Award for Injury Before Policy Purchase

A Florida appellate court has reversed a $6.25 million judgment against an insurance company because it was for an injury that occurred four days before coverage was obtained.

A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee last Thursday ruled unanimously for Interstate Fire & Casualty Co.

Fourteen-year-old Dakota Abernathy was hurt on an inflatable bungee run at a fundraiser for the Choctaw Touchdown Club of Fort Walton Beach. It is Choctawhatchee High School’s football booster club.

After the injury, the club was added to an Interstate policy taken out by the company that supplied the bungee run.

The club settled for $6.25 million and assigned its rights under the policy to the teen’s mother. A trial judge in Okaloosa County then ordered Interstate to pay her.