FILED 

 U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT 

 October 28, 2003 

 THOMAS K. KAHN 

 CLERK

*Honorable Adalberto J. Jordan, United States District Judge for the Southern District of

Florida, sitting by designation.

[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

________________________

No. 02-16511

________________________

D. C. Docket No. 01-01058-CV-ORL-28

CAST STEEL PRODUCTS, INC., 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

versus 

ADMIRAL INSURANCE COMPANY, 

Defendant-Appellee. 

________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Middle District of Florida

_________________________

(October 28, 2003)

Before BLACK and FAY, Circuit Judges, and JORDAN*

, District Judge.

FAY, Circuit Judge:
2

Cast Steel Products, Inc. (“Cast Steel”) appeals an adverse summary

judgment granted to Admiral Insurance Company (“Admiral”) on Cast Steel’s

action for a declaration that either (or both) of its 1999 and 2000 “claims-made”

professional liability policies with Admiral covered a defective product claim that

accrued at the conclusion of the 1999 policy period but was not reported until the

start of the 2000 policy period. The district court found that neither policy

provided coverage for the claim because the claim had not both accrued and been

reported to Admiral during the same policy period. Cast Steel argues on appeal

that the 1999 Professional Liability Policy (“99 Policy”) is ambiguous with respect

to coverage of the 1999 claim upon renewal of the 99 Policy in 2000. Specifically,

Cast Steel contends that because the 99 Policy automatically extends the claims

reporting period upon cancellation or non-renewal of the policy, but is silent as to

whether renewal of the policy would provide the same reporting extension, an

unresolved ambiguity exists in the policy that precluded the district court from

granting summary judgment. 

We agree that the 99 Policy is ambiguous. We further find that, because

under Florida law an ambiguity in an insurance policy must be construed in favor

of the insured so as not to deny coverage, summary judgment should have been

granted to Cast Steel. Swire Pacific Holdings, Inc. v. Zurich Ins., Co., 845 So. 2d
1Cast Steel actually purchased the 99 Policy through Ayers/Sierra, a local insurance

broker. Because Ayers/Sierra was not in the business of selling surplus lines insurance, it sought

out Markel, a surplus lines agent for Admiral’s products in Florida. 

2Cast Steel also purchased a commercial general liability policy from Admiral in early

1999 (the “CGL Policy”), and it sought declaratory relief under that policy as well. The district

court ultimately determined that the CGL Policy, by its plain language, did not cover the claim at

issue. Cast Steel does not challenge that finding on appeal. Thus, in order to avoid confusion,

we focus only on the professional liability policies (which we refer to as the “99 Policy” and “00

Policy”) in this opinion.

3

161, 165 (Fla. 2003). Accordingly, we REVERSE the district court’s order

granting summary judgment in Admiral’s favor, and REMAND to the district court

with instruction to enter summary judgment in Cast Steel’s favor as to the 99

Policy.

I.

Cast Steel is a Florida corporation in the business of supplying castings and

components to the mining and waste energy industries. In early 1999, it purchased

professional liability insurance from Admiral, a surplus lines insurer headquartered

in Delaware, through Admiral’s designated surplus lines broker in the state of

Florida, Gary Markel.1

 The 99 Policy had a retroactive effective date of January 6,

1999 and an expiration date of January 6, 2000, at 12:01 a.m. Cast Steel

subsequently renewed the 99 Policy, and the renewal policy had an effective date

of January 6, 2000, and expiration date of January 6, 2001 (“00 Policy”).2

 Both

policies, by their terms, were “claims-made” policies, which meant that each policy
3Admiral sent the reservation of rights letter only as to the CGL Policy, and Cast Steel

argues that, as a result, Admiral never reserved its right to deny coverage under the 99 or 00

Policies. We find this argument unavailing, however, because Cast Steel only made a claim

under the CGL Policy, and Admiral took it upon itself to determine whether any of Cast Steel’s

three policies provided coverage. 

4

purported to cover only those claims which had both accrued and were reported to

Admiral during the policy period indicated on the face of the policy. 

Sometime in early 1999, Cast Steel was awarded a contract to provide 130

pallet cars to Hibbing Taconite (“Hibbing”), an iron ore mine located in Hibbing,

Minnesota, for the purchase price of $5.5 million. Cast Steel delivered the cars in

June 1999. Soon thereafter, in August 1999, Hibbing reported significant

problems with the wheels of the cars, which, after some investigation, Cast Steel

determined to be caused by defective design of the bearings. On October 21, 1999,

Hibbing prepared an incident report and formally reported its claim to Cast Steel. 

Cast Steel immediately advised Ayers/Sierra of the Hibbing claim and asked that

the proper claim paperwork be prepared. In an unfortunate twist of fate,

Ayers/Sierra failed to submit the Hibbing claim to Admiral until January 6, 2000 –

just hours after the 99 Policy had expired.

On February 10, 2000, Admiral sent Cast Steel a reservation of rights letter

and began investigating the Hibbing claim.3 After four months of investigation by

an independent claims adjuster, Admiral sent Cast Steel a letter denying coverage
4Section II(B)(2)(a) of the 00 Policy indicates claims arising prior to the effective date of

the policy are covered only if the insured had no knowledge of the claim as of the date of signing

the application for the policy.

5

under all policies. 

This suit followed on July 25, 2001. Cast Steel originally brought the action

in Florida state court, seeking, inter alia, a declaration that at least one of the

various policies obligated Admiral to cover the Hibbing claim. Admiral removed

the action to the Middle District of Florida on diversity grounds and, in July 2002,

Cast Steel moved for summary judgment on the 99 Policy. Admiral’s own

summary judgment motion followed. On October 24, 2002, the district court

entertained oral argument and in November granted summary judgment to

Admiral, finding that none of the policies provided coverage to Cast Steel. 

Specifically, the district court determined that Cast Steel failed to comply

with the 99 Policy’s notice requirement when it failed to report the Hibbing claim

during the 99 Policy period. As to the 00 Policy, the court held that because the

Hibbing claim accrued during 1999, and Cast Steel was undisputedly aware of the

claim when it renewed the policy, the plain language of the 00 Policy precluded

coverage.4 With respect to Cast Steel’s argument that Admiral was on notice of its

claim because Admiral (or Admiral’s surplus lines broker Markel) cloaked

Ayers/Sierra with apparent authority to receive claims on Admiral’s behalf, the
6

district court found that Cast Steel failed to show that Admiral ever represented to

Cast Steel that Ayers/Sierra was its agent in this regard and, moreover, the record

showed that Ayers/Sierra itself adamantly denied being Admiral’s agent or ever

making a representation to Cast Steel that it was Admiral’s agent. 

Cast Steel asserts on appeal that the district court erred in granting summary

judgment to Admiral because issues of fact remained as to whether Ayers/Sierra

was cloaked with apparent authority to receive claims on behalf of Admiral. Cast

Steel also argues that an unresolved ambiguity as to whether renewal of the 99

Policy extended the period in which it could report claims precluded summary

judgment on Admiral’s behalf.

II.

We review a district court’s granting of a motion for summary judgment de

novo, applying the same legal standards used by the district court. Hilburn v.

Murata Elecs. N. Am., Inc., 181 F.3d 1220, 1225 (11th Cir. 1999). We “view the

evidence and all factual inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the

party opposing the motion.” Burton v. City of Belle Glade, 178 F.3d 1175, 1187

(11th Cir. 1999) (quoting Clemons v. Dougherty County, 684 F.2d 1365, 1368

(11th Cir. 1982)). Denial of summary judgment is also reviewed de novo. Weeks

v. Harden Mfg. Corp., 291 F.3d 1307, 1311 (11th Cir. 2002). 
7

III.

The district court’s decision presents a somewhat alarming scenario. Faced

with two consecutive insurance policies that created apparently seamless coverage

over two policy periods, the court nevertheless found that a claim accruing within

the two periods was somehow not covered by either policy. On the face of the 99

and 00 Policies, there appears to be no gap in coverage. Indeed, the 99 Policy was

effective until 12:01 a.m. on January 6, 2000, and the 00 Policy was retroactively

effective beginning on January 6, 2000 (presumably at 12:01 a.m.). At a glance,

one would be hard pressed to imagine how a claim accruing in the middle of the

two policy periods would not be covered by one of the policies. But because a

claims-made policy is designed to cover only claims both accruing and reported

during the specified policy period, the district court held that a claim which

accrued late in the first policy period but was not reported until early in the second

was covered by neither policy. 

Cast Steel challenges the district court’s conclusion, and argues that because

the 99 Policy automatically extends (by thirty days) the period in which to report

1999 claims if the insured elects to cancel or non-renew the policy, there remains

an ambiguity as to whether renewal provides a similar reporting extension. 

Subsection B of the “Extended Discovery Period” provision (Section IV) of the 99
8

Policy provides as follows:

If the policy is cancelled or not renewed by the Named

Insured an automatic thirty (30) day Claims Extension

Period shall apply to claims, provided such claims are not

covered under any subsequent insurance purchased by

the Named Insured, or that would be covered but for the

exhaustion of the amount of insurance applicable to such

claims.

99 Policy, Sect. IV (B). Cast Steel chose neither of the two options above, but

rather renewed the 99 Policy in the following year. Neither this section, nor any

section of the 99 Policy, however, discusses whether a similar reporting extension

accompanies renewal of the policy. Accordingly, Admiral counters that the

policy’s silence can only mean that the same reporting extension does not

accompany renewal.

The district court, siding with Admiral, did not find any ambiguity in the 99

Policy. Granting summary judgment in Admiral’s favor, the district court relied on

the Southern District of Florida’s 2001 Pantropic decision in finding that renewal

of the 99 Policy did not extend the time in which Cast Steel could report its claim. 

Pantropic Power Prods., Inc. v. Firemen’s Fund Ins. Co., 141 F. Supp. 2d 1366

(S.D. Fla. 2001). In Pantropic, which was affirmed by this Court in an

unpublished per curiam opinion, the plaintiff offered, and the district court

rejected, the identical argument to Cast Steel’s here. The court in Pantropic, in
5This particular scenario has only been addressed by a few other district courts. In

Ehrgood, the court reached the same conclusion as the Southern District in Pantropic. Ehrgood

v. Coregis Ins. Co., 59 F. Supp. 2d 438 (M.D. Pa. 1998). However, in Ehrgood, as in Pantropic,

the Year 1 policy provided the insured a 60-day grace period in which to report claims accruing

during the first policy period, and insured reported its claim outside this window. Id. at 447. 

The insurer prevailed in Checkrite as well, but the court noted that even if it were to give the

insured the benefit of the additional 60- or 90-day grace period contemplated by New York

insurance law, the insured reported its claim far outside this time frame. Checkrite Ltd., Inc. v.

Illinois Nat’l Ins. Co., 95 F. Supp. 2d 180, 191–194 & n.9 (S.D.N.Y. 2000); see also Westport

Ins. Corp. v. Mirsky, No. CIV A. 00-4367, 2002 WL 31018554, at *11 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 10, 2002)

(district court reached the same conclusion but was not faced with the extended reporting

provision present in this matter). 

9

granting insurer’s motion for summary judgment, explained that because an insurer

undertakes a more limited risk in a claims-made policy, it typically charges a lower

premium. Id. at 1369. In exchange, the insured is only permitted to make and

report a claim during a narrow window of time. Significantly, in the policy at issue

in Pantropic, that time included the expressed policy period plus a 60-day grace

period. Id at 1370. Because the Pantropic plaintiff submitted its claim 16 days

after the 60-day grace period expired, it was not entitled to coverage even though it

had renewed its policy for consecutive years with insurer. Id. at 1369–70.5

 This Court was able to identify only one case in which a court, when faced

with a nearly-identical factual scenario, found in favor of the insured. In Helberg,

the Sixth District of Ohio determined that a claim accruing during Year 1 of a

claims-made policy, but not reported until the Year 2 policy period (which, like

here, was a renewal of Year 1), was covered by the Year 1 policy pursuant to the
10

(albeit ambiguous) reporting extension clause contained therein. Helberg v. Nat’l

Union Fire Ins. Co., 657 N.E.2d 832, 833–35 (Ohio Ct. App. 1995).

Plaintiff in Helberg, an attorney, initiated litigation against his malpractice

insurer (“National”), when National refused to indemnify him in a malpractice

action brought by a former client. Id. at 833. Plaintiff was undisputedly aware of

the claim against him on October 21, 1991, but failed to report the claim to

National until January 21, 1992. His 1991 claims-made policy provided coverage

from December 11, 1990, to December 11, 1991 – thus he did not report his claim

to National until six weeks after the conclusion of the 1999 coverage period. 

However, plaintiff purchased a renewal of his 1999 policy, which had a retroactive

effective date of December 11, 1991, and therefore believed that he was covered by

malpractice insurance at all times with National. Id. National denied coverage,

asserting that the 1991 claim was not covered because it was not reported during

the 1991 policy period. Id.

The court, recognizing that a claims-made policy requires that notice of

action against the insured must be presented to the insurer within the designated

time period of the policy, nonetheless found that plaintiff’s claim was covered by

the 1991 policy. Finding support in the policy’s extended reporting endorsement,

the court explained:
6Note that in Helberg the insured was entitled to purchase a reporting extension pursuant

to the extended reporting clause. Here, the extension was automatic upon non-renewal or

cancellation.

11

In the present case, there was no cancellation of

coverage, nor did the insured change insurance carriers. 

The insured merely renewed his claims-made policy. 

Such an event should not precipitate a trap wherein

claims spanning the renewal are denied.

Id. at 834 (emphasis added). The policy at issue in Helberg, like the policy in our

case, did not provide the insured with a grace-period after expiration of the policy

to report claims. Cf. Pantropic, 141 F. Supp. 2d at 1369. But – and again similar

to the 99 Policy here – the Helberg policy’s extended reporting clause set out only

two circumstances when purchase of a reporting extension was necessary to

maintain coverage – upon cancellation or non-renewal.6

 Helberg, 657 N.E.2d at

835. The Ohio court continued:

Applying the time-honored maxim of construction,

expressio unius est exclusio alterius, the inclusion of

specific things implies the exclusion of those not

mentioned, this court can only conclude that the inclusion

of “non-renewal” of the policy as one of those

circumstances demanding the purchase of an extended

reporting endorsement excludes a “renewal” as a

circumstance which demands such a purchase. Since

appellant’s position here was a renewal rather than a

“non-renewal” or “cancellation,” this court concludes

that the language of the contract does not deny coverage

in this context.

Id. at 835. 
7

It is also worth noting that Admiral, unlike the insurer in Pantropic, concedes that the 00

Policy was a renewal of the 99 Policy. Thus, the Pantropic court’s reason for rejecting the logic

of Helberg – that is, because the policy at issue in Helberg specifically contemplated continuous

renewal – is not availing here. Admiral does not contend, as the insurer in Pantropic did, that

the 00 Policy was a separate and distinct policy rather than a renewal of the 99 Policy. Indeed,

Admiral refers to the 00 Policy as a “renewal policy” throughout its briefs.

12

We concur with the reasoning set forth in Helberg. Though we are

sympathetic to the rationale of Pantropic, and would generally agree that the lower

premium charged for a claims-made policy should entitle an insured to lesser

coverage than a broader, and more expensive, occurrence policy, we find it both

illogical and inequitable to deny coverage to the insured who chooses to renew its

claims-made policy for successive years with the same insurer – particularly in the

scenario we are faced with here. Cast Steel’s claim was reported to Admiral mere

hours after the expiration of the 99 Policy, and during a time period in which the

00 Policy had become effective. As the Helberg court noted, if choosing to cancel

or non-renew provided the insured with an extended reporting period, electing to

continue to do business with the same insurer by renewing the claims-made policy

certainly “should not precipitate a trap wherein claims spanning the renewal are

denied.” Helberg, 657 N.E.2d at 834.7

 

It seems to us that the most reasonable interpretation of the extended

reporting clause is that it automatically extends the reporting period through
8Counsel for Admiral has been unable to explain what the reporting period would be for

claims accruing on the last day, or within a very short period, of the conclusion of the policy

period. Again, unlike the policy in Pantropic, the policy in question provides for no grace

period following its expiration for reporting claims.

9

In view of our holding it is not necessary for us to discuss the issue of whether or not

there existed genuine issues of material fact on the question of agency. However, for the sake of

completeness we state that a review of the record convinces us that such do exist. Based upon

the evidence in this record a jury could conclude that Admiral cloaked Ayers/Sierra with the

apparent authority to receive claims on its behalf.

13

renewal. The clause is clearly ambiguous on this point.8

 Accordingly, because we

find a clear mandate in Florida law to construct a contract of insurance in favor of

the insured and strictly against the drafter, we hold that the ambiguity in the 99

Policy must be resolved so as not to deny coverage. Swire Pacific Holdings, 845

So. 2d at 165. We find that Cast Steel’s renewal of the 99 Policy in 2000 extended

the time in which to report the Hibbing claim. As Cast Steel reported the claim

immediately after the expiration of the 99 Policy, the district court erred when it

denied coverage.9

 

III.

Finally, Cast Steel challenges the district court’s failure to require Admiral

to refund Cast Steel a $2500 deductible which Admiral collected under the policy. 

Although the district court determined the deductible was improperly billed, it did

not award Cast Steel damages in this amount. However, because we find that the

99 Policy covers the Hibbing claim, a logical outcropping of our decision is that
14

Cast Steel would have been required to pay Admiral the deductible under the

policy. Accordingly, Cast Steel is not entitled to a refund of the deductible.

IV.

For the above reasons, we reverse the district court’s decision and remand to

the district court with instruction to enter summary judgment in Cast Steel’s favor

on the 99 Policy.

REVERSED and REMANDED with instructions.