A federal judge in Florida’s Middle District ruled Monday that Amerisure Insurance Company, the insurer for contractor The Auchter Co., can’t tap third-party insurers to offset an $8.5 million judgment tied to shoddy workmanship on a 2005 Jacksonville condo project. U.S. District Judge Anne C. Conway held that a prior settlement freed those insurers from liability, leaving Amerisure to face the music alone.
The ruling stems from a long-running dispute over The Peninsula at St. John’s Center, a 38-story condominium where construction defects—like water leaks from faulty dampproofing—surfaced after completion. The Peninsula Condominium Association sued Auchter in 2013, triggering a cascade of legal battles. On Friday, Conway denied Amerisure’s motions for partial summary judgment and granted Companion Specialty Insurance Company’s motion, cementing a key loss for Auchter’s insurer.
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The saga began in 2005 when developer St. John’s Phase 2, LLLP picked Auchter as general contractor. Auchter subcontracted Blanchard Caulking & Coating Co. for dampproofing behind garage-level brickwork, with Blanchard required to name Auchter as an “additional insured” on its policies with Century Surety Co. and Companion.
Two years in, Auchter’s financial woes forced a takeover by its sureties and Skanska USA, who wrapped the project by July 2008. A 2013 turnover report to the condo association then exposed a litany of latent defects: failed waterproofing, missing fire seals, subpar electrical work, and cracking stucco causing leaks through balconies, doors, and windows.
The association’s suit against Auchter, removed to federal court in 2022 as Case 3:22-cv-792, detailed these flaws. Amerisure, Auchter’s insurer from 2006-2008, twice refused to defend it. Meanwhile, the sureties sued Blanchard and others, settling with Blanchard in 2018 for $250,000—a deal that “released Blanchard’s insurers from all claims related to Blanchard’s work,” Conway noted.
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In 2021, after eight years, 60 depositions, and six mediations, Auchter settled with the association for $150,000 cash and an $8.5 million judgment ($1.8 million tied to dampproofing), assigning its insurance rights to pursue carriers like Amerisure.
Amerisure fired back with a third-party complaint against Blanchard’s insurers, arguing their coverage for Auchter should take precedence. Century and Companion countered that the 2018 Blanchard settlement wiped out any claims against them.
Conway agreed: Auchter’s release of Blanchard’s insurers—uncontested by Amerisure—meant “Auchter had no rights” to assign by 2021. “The association, as Auchter’s assignee, thus has no rights against the third-party defendants,” she wrote, leaving Amerisure empty-handed.
The decision strands Amerisure as the association presses its breach-of-duty claims, while Companion exits unscathed. Century’s status remains pending, though it echoed Companion’s defense.
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