Hermitage Insurance Co. v. Oxygen in the Grove
35 Fla. L. Weekly D342a (Fla. 3rd DCA 2010) (February)
A man alleged that he was assaulted by bouncers at a bar, and the bar demanded that its insurance company defend it in the subsequent suit. The company declined to defend the bar on the basis that the bouncers had committed an intentional tort. The bar obtained private counsel and settled the case through arbitration. The man later filed a motion to vacate this judgment, though, arguing that the company should have been joined as a party to the claim. The trial judge granted this motion because the bar did not oppose it, although the company
did. The district court reversed this decision, holding that the trial judge’s power to vacate a
judgment on account of negligent mistake or error was not intended to correct one side’s “tactical errors” at trial.