UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION, Petitioner,
v.
Dale E. JENNINGS, Jr. and Tammy M. Jennings, Respondents.
Supreme Court of Florida.
Rоbert C. Gobelman and Evan G. Frayman of Gobelman and Love, Jacksonville, Florida, for Petitioner.
Thomas S. Edwards, Jr. and Joel B. Toomey of Peek, Cobb, Edwards & Ashton, P.A., Jacksonville, Florida, for Respondents.
Stephen E. Day and Rhonda B. Boggess of Taylor, Day, Currie & Burnett, Jacksonville, Florida, for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Amicus Curiae.
George A. Vaka and Tracy Rаffles of Fowler, White, Gillen, Boggs, Villareal and Banker, P.A., Tampa, Florida, for Florida Defense Lawyers' Association, Amicus Curiae.
Louis K. Rosеnbloum, Pensacola, Florida, for Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, Amicus Curiae.
WELLS, J.
We review United Services Automobile Ass'n v. Jennings,
WHETHER THE FACT THAT A THIRD PARTY BAD-FAITH CLAIM HAS BEEN BROUGHT PURSUANT TO A CUNNINGHAM[1] STIPULATION RATHER THAN PURSUANT TO AN EXCESS JUDGMENT MAKES ANY DIFFERENCE WHEN ATTORNEY-CLIENT AND WORK PRODUCT PRIVILEGES ARE ASSERTED DURING DISCOVERY IN THE BAD-FAITH ACTION AS TO MATERIAL CONTAINED IN THE CLAIMS FILE?
Jennings,
In December 1993, Christopher Broxton, the 16-year-old son of petitioner's insured, Bobby Broxton, was the driver of an insured vehicle that collided head-on with a car driven by respondent Dale Jennings. As a result of the accident, Christopher Broxton died and respondent was seriously injured. Respondents initiated settlement negotiations with petitioner. Negotiations broke down in May 1994, and respondents sued petitioner's insured. In November 1994, respondents and petitioner's insured executed a settlement agreement that releasеd all of respondents' claims against petitioner's insured in exchange for the right to pursue a third-party bad-faith claim against petitioner. On July 18, 1995, respondents, petitioner, and petitioner's insured executed a stipulation and agreement. "The stipulation specifically stated that it would `serve as the functional equivalent of an excess judgment in the amount of $75,000,' in accordance with the Florida Supreme Court's opinion in Cunningham v. Standard Guaranty Ins. Co.,
Petitioner asked the First District Court of Appeal to quash the trial court's discovery order compelling production of the claims file. The First District denied the petition, citing Dunn v. National Security Fire & Casualty Co.,
In urging us to answer the certified question in the affirmativе and thus to prohibit discovery of the claims file, petitioner contends that an injured third party does not, for discovery purposes, stand in *1260 the shoes of the insured in a third-party bad-faith claim pursuant to a Cunningham stipulation agreement. According to petitioner, this assertion is well-founded because this Court approved in Cunningham a stipulation that was "the functional equivalent of an excess judgment for purposes of satisfying the principle of Cope."[4]Cunningham,
Petitioner affords to our Cunningham decision too narrow a reading and then seeks to avoid the plain language of the stipulation to which it agreed. In Cunningham, we simply approved a procedure in which the parties could avoid the time and exрense of going through a trial to obtain a final judgment. In following that procedure, the parties agree and the courts recognizе that a stipulated final judgment has the same force and effect as a final judgment reached through the usual judicial labor of a trial when the parties agree that it shall.
This is precisely what occurred here. The stipulation expressly states that it serves "as the functional equivalent of an excess judgment." The parties agreed to no conditions or limitations on the force and effect of the judgment. We hold that a judgment so stipulated is to be given the same effect in the bad-faith litigation as a final judgment reached upon a determination at trial, and this includes discovery.
By this holding we do not restrict the terms that the parties to such a stipulation may put into their аgreement. The parties may expressly limit discovery. However, the parties did not do so in Cunningham or in this case.
Finally, we note that the permitted discovеry of the insurer's claim file is limited to materials related to the insurer's handling of the claim through the date of the stipulation and agreement that concluded the underlying negligence claim and is the basis of the stipulated judgment. The required discovery does not include any attorney-client communication or work-product material which pertains to the insurer's defense of itself in the bad-faith action and whiсh was generated subsequent to the stipulation and agreement, even though such privileged materials are physically included in what is referred to as the claims file.
Accordingly, having answered the certified question in the negative, we approve the district court's decision and remand to the district court for further proceedings in conformity with this opinion. We remand respondents' claim for attorney fees for a determination of entitlement if respondents ultimately prevail in the bad-faith action.
It is so ordered.
HARDING, C.J., SHAW, ANSTEAD and PARIENTE, JJ., and OVERTON, Senior Justice, conсur.
NOTES
Notes
[1] Cunningham v. Standard Guaranty Ins. Co.,
[2] An excess judgment is defined as the difference between all available insurance coverage and the amount of the verdiсt recovered by the injured party. McLeod v. Continental Ins. Co.,
[3] Section 624.155(1)(b)1, Florida Statutes (1993), reads in pertinent part:
(1) Any person may bring a civil action against an insurеr when such person is damaged:
. . . .
(b) By the commission of any of the following acts by the insurer:
1. Not attempting in good faith to settle claims when, under all the circumstances, it could and should have done so, had it acted fairly and honestly toward its insured and with due regard for his interests;....
[4] Fidelity & Casualty Co. v. Cope,