Florida Department of Environmental Protection v. City of Miami Beach
In a decades-old personal injury suit arising from a diving accident, the trial court granted the City of Miami Beach summary judgment on FDEP's third-party indemnity claim before FDEP's underlying liability to the plaintiffs had ever been adjudicated, reasoning that any judgment would rest on FDEP's own negligence and be barred by sovereign immunity. The Third District reversed, holding that although an indemnity claim may be filed before liability is resolved, entry of judgment on indemnity before the underlying liability is determined is premature. The court also held the trial court improperly relied on unverified pleadings as record evidence to presume the theory of FDEP's liability.
Key facts
- FDEP filed a third-party indemnity claim against the City of Miami Beach in a decades-old personal injury suit arising from a diving accident.
- The trial court granted summary judgment on FDEP's indemnity claim before FDEP's underlying liability to the plaintiffs had been adjudicated, relying on unverified pleadings to presume FDEP's liability rested on its own negligence and was barred by sovereign immunity.
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Why it matters
Practitioners defending or asserting indemnity claims can use this decision to defeat early dispositive motions: the Third DCA reaffirms that indemnity may be pleaded early but not adjudicated before the indemnitee's… — full analysis with a trial
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