Case Name: Rafael VARGAS, Appellant, v. ENTERPRISE LEASING COMPANY, a Florida corporation, Elizabeth Price, and Jimmy Middleton, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2008-10-31
Citations: 993 So. 2d 614
Docket Number: No. 4D07-3929
Parties: Rafael VARGAS, Appellant, v. ENTERPRISE LEASING COMPANY, a Florida corporation, Elizabeth Price, and Jimmy Middleton, Appellees.
Judges: SHAHOOD, C.J., STONE, WARNER, TAYLOR and MAY, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 993
Pages: 614–636

Head Matter:
Rafael VARGAS, Appellant, v. ENTERPRISE LEASING COMPANY, a Florida corporation, Elizabeth Price, and Jimmy Middleton, Appellees.
No. 4D07-3929.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
Oct. 31, 2008.
Marjorie Gadarian Graham of Marjorie Gadarian Graham, P.A., Palm Beach Gardens, and Mariano Garcia of Gonzalez Porcher Alber & Garcia, Lake Worth, for appellant.
David C. Borucke of Holland & Knight LLP, Tampa, for appellee Enterprise Leasing Company, a Florida corporation.

Opinion:
GROSS, J.
The issue before the court is whether by enacting 49 U.S.C. § 30106, the Graves Amendment, Congress preempted section 324.021(9)(b)2, Florida Statutes (2007), involving short term leases of motor vehicles. We hold that the Florida statute has been preempted and affirm the judgment of the trial court. We conclude that the section is neither a "financial responsibility law" nor a "liability insurance requirement" under the exceptions to preemption in 49 U.S.C. § 30106(b).
Enterprise Leasing Company leased a motor vehicle to Elizabeth Price for a period of less than one year. On February 12, 2006, Mrs. Price's son, Jimmy Middleton, crashed the rental vehicle into the rear end of a car driven by Rafael Vargas. Vargas filed suit against Price, Middleton, and Enterprise. The only count of the complaint directed at Enterprise claimed that the company was vicariously liable as the owner of the motor vehicle, pursuant to section 324.021(9)(b)2. Vargas did not contend that Enterprise was negligent, that its lease of a vehicle to Price was improper, or that it was in any way at fault for the accident. Enterprise filed an amended answer and affirmative defenses, asserting that pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 30106, it had no liability.
The circuit court granted Enterprise's motion for summary judgment, ruling that the Graves Amendment preempted section 324.021(9)(b)2, which it determined was a vicarious liability provision and not a financial responsibility statute. After the entry of a final judgment consistent with Enter prise's consent to judgment, Vargas timely filed a notice of appeal.
Congress enacted 49 U.S.C. § 30106 in 2005. The two pertinent subsections of the statute important to this appeal provide:
(a) In general. — An owner of a motor vehicle that rents or leases the vehicle to a person (or an affiliate of the owner) shall not be liable under the law of any State or political subdivision thereof, by reason of being the owner of the vehicle (or an affiliate of the owner), for harm to persons or property that results or arises out of the usé, operation, or possession of the vehicle during the period of the rental or lease, if—
(1) the owner (or an affiliate of the owner) is engaged in the trade or business of renting or leasing motor vehicles; and
(2) there is no negligence or criminal wrongdoing on the part of the owner (or an affiliate of the owner).
(b) Financial responsibility laws. — Nothing in this section supersedes the law of any State or political subdivision thereof—
(1) imposing financial responsibility or insurance standards on the owner of a motor vehicle for the privilege of registering and operating a motor vehicle; or
(2) imposing liability on business entities engaged in the trade or business of renting or leasing motor vehicles for failure to meet the financial responsibility or liability insurance requirements under State law.
In subsection (a), the statute preempts state laws imposing liability on owners in the business of renting or leasing motor vehicles, except when there is negligence or criminal wrongdoing on the part of the lessor. Subsection (b) excepts from preemption those state "financial responsibility laws" (1) "imposing financial responsibility . for the privilege of registering and operating a motor vehicle," or (2) "imposing liability" on entities in the "trade or business of renting or leasing motor vehicles" for failing "to meet the financial responsibility or liability insurance requirements under State law."
In 1999, the Florida legislature created statutory caps on the amount of vicarious liability rental car companies could face under the dangerous instrumentality doctrine. Part of Florida's common law, that doctrine "imposes strict vicarious liability upon the owner of a motor vehicle who voluntarily entrusts that motor vehicle to an individual whose negligent operation causes damage to another." Estate of Villanueva v. Youngblood, 927 So.2d 955, 957 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006). "The dangerous instrumentality doctrine is unique to Florida and has been applied with very few exceptions." Aurbach v. Gallina, 753 So.2d 60, 62 (Fla.2000). In 1959, the Florida Supreme Court extended the doctrine to lessors, making them vicariously liable, as owners, for the lessee's negligent operation of a motor vehicle. See Susco Car Rental Sys. of Fla. v. Leonard, 112 So.2d 832 (Fla.1959). Against this legal backdrop, the legislature adopted section 324.021(9)(b)2, which provides:
(b) Owner/lessor. — Notwithstanding any other provision of the Florida Statutes or existing case law:
2. The lessor, under an agreement to rent or lease a motor vehicle for a period of less than 1 year, shall be deemed the owner of the motor vehicle for the purpose of determining liability for the operation of the vehicle or the acts of the operator in connection therewith only up to $100,000 per person and up to $300,000 per incident for bodily injury and up to $50,000 for property damage. If -the lessee or the operator of the motor vehicle is uninsured or has any insurance with limits less than $500,000 combined property damage and bodily injury liability, the lessor shall be liable for up to an additional $500,000 in economic damages only arising out of the use of the motor vehicle. The additional specified liability of the lessor for economic damages shall be reduced by amounts actually recovered from the lessee, from the operator, and from any insurance or self-insurance covering the lessee or operator. Nothing in this sub-paragraph shall be construed to affect the liability of the lessor for its own negligence.
Ch. 99-225, § 28, at 1421-22, Laws of Fla.
Section 324.021(9)(b)2 comes within the preemption language of 49 U.S.C. § 30106(a), since it is a state law that imposes liability upon a lessor "by reason of being the owner of' a motor vehicle. Section 324.021(9)(b)2 states:
The lessor, under an agreement to rent or lease a motor vehicle for a period of less than 1 year, shall be deemed the owner of the motor vehicle for the purpose of determining liability for the operation of the vehicle or the acts of the operator in connection therewith .
Id. (emphasis added). The statute thus involves precisely that type of vicarious liability targeted by the Graves Amendment, a liability derived from a status as owner, rather than fault. See Kumarsingh v. PV Holding Corp., 983 So.2d 599 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008). Vargas seeks to recover from Enterprise solely on the basis of vicarious liability.
Vargas's lawsuit is preempted unless section 324.021(9)(b)2 falls within the savings clause of section 30106(b). Vargas argues that his lawsuit comes within the savings clause because section 324.021(9)(b)2 is a "financial responsibility law" under section 30106(b). We reject that argument. Although Florida has adopted "financial responsibility laws," as the term was used by Congress, section 324.021(9)(b)2 is not one of them.
A court's "objective [in] interpreting a statute is to determine the drafters' intent." United States v. Grigsby, 111 F.3d 806, 816 (11th Cir.1997). Section 30106(b) speaks to "financial responsibility laws" and "financial responsibility." The federal statute does not define the term "financial responsibility." We therefore assume that Congress used the term according to its ordinary and common meaning, "unless it is apparent from [the] context that the disputed term is a term of art." Garcia v. Vanguard Car Rental USA Inc., 540 F.3d 1242, 1246 (11th Cir. 2008). "When Congress employs a term of art, it presumptively adopts the meaning and 'cluster of ideas' that the term has accumulated over time." Id. at 1246-47 (quoting Med. Transp. Mgmt. Corp. v. Comm'r of I.R.S., 506 F.3d 1364, 1368-69 (11th Cir.2007)). "The starting point for [the] interpretation of a statute is always its language," so that "courts must presume that a legislature says in a statute what it means and means in a statute what it says there." Garcia v. Vanguard Car Rental USA, Inc., 510 F.Supp.2d 821, 829-30 (M.D.Fla.2007), aff'd, 540 F.3d at 1242 (quoting Cmty. for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730, 739, 109 S.Ct. 2166, 104 L.Ed.2d 811 (1989), and Connecticut Nat. Bank v. Germain, 503 U.S. 249, 253-54, 112 S.Ct. 1146, 117 L.Ed.2d 391 (1992)). One source of common usage is Black's Law Dictionary, which provides these definitions:
Financial responsibility. Term commonly used in connection with motor vehicle insurance equivalents. See also Financial responsibility acts. Financial responsibility acts. State statutes which require owners of motor vehicles to produce proof of financial accountability as a condition to acquiring a license and registration so that judgments rendered against them arising out of the operation of the vehicles may be satisfied.
Black's Law Dictionary 631 (6th ed. 1990). The common usage of "financial responsibility" thus means an insurance equivalent, that level of security required to pay for damages arising from motor vehicle accidents, as a condition of acquiring a driver's license or registering a vehicle. As a term of art, this is the meaning that the term has accumulated over time as many states have adopted minimum standards requiring drivers to be responsible for damages they cause.
Reaching a similar conclusion, the Eleventh Circuit has concluded "that Congress used the term 'financial responsibility law5 to denote state laws which impose insurance-like requirements on owners or operators of motor vehicles, but permit them to carry, in lieu of liability insurance per se, its financial equivalent, such as a bond or self insurance." Garcia, 540 F.3d at 1247. That court recognized that its definition was similar to the common legal usage of the term.
Beginning in 1947, Florida adopted financial responsibility laws consistent with the ordinary and common meaning of the term utilized by Congress. It was in this limited way that the Florida legislature used the term "financial responsibility" when it passed the Financial Responsibility Law of 1955, which created Chapter 324, Florida Statutes. Ch. 29963, Laws of Fla. (1955). The legislature described the purpose of the statute as relating to a driver's duty to pay compensation for damages:
It is the intent of this chapter to recognize the existing rights of all to own motor vehicles and to operate them on the public streets and highways of this state when such rights are used with due consideration for others; to promote safety, and provide financial security by such owners and operators whose responsibility it is to recompense others for injury to person or property caused by the operation of a motor vehicle, so it is required herein that the owner and operator of a motor vehicle involved in an accident shall respond for such damages and show proof of financial ability to respond for damages in future accidents as a requisite to his future exercise of such privileges.
Ch. 29963, Laws of Fla. (1955), § 1 at 974 (emphasis added). After a driver was involved in an accident, the 1955 Act required him to show "proof of financial ability to respond for damages in future accidents," another way of saying "financial responsibility."
The 1955 Law's definition of "financial responsibility" is contained in the definition of the term "proof of financial responsibility"; it is the "ability to respond in damages for liability, on account of accidents arising out of the use of a motor vehicle," in the amounts of $5,000, $10,000, or $20,000, depending on the circumstances. § 324.021(7), Fla. Stat. (1955). The 1955 law provided four ways to prove financial responsibility: an insurance policy, a bond, a cash deposit with the state treasurer, or a certificate of self insurance. § 324.031, Fla. Stat. (1955); see § 324.031(l)-(4), Fla. Stat. (2007).
The Financial Responsibility Law of 1955 borrowed both its stated purpose and definition of "financial responsibility" from an earlier statute, Chapter 23626, Laws of Florida (1947). The expressed intent of this "ACT relating to proof of financial responsibility by owners and operators of motor vehicles" was to recognize that the right to operate a motor vehicle was subject to the:
public responsibility to be able to recompense anyone injured in person or property by the operation of motor vehicles on the highways of this State, so it is required herein that any owner or operator involved in an accident shall in the future show the ability to respond in damages as a requisite to his future exercise of such privileges.
Ch. 23626, Laws of Fla. (1947). The 1947 statute defined "proof of financial responsibility" as a "proof of ability to respond in damages for liability, on account of accidents occurring subsequent to the effective date of said proof, arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle...."
Florida's implementation of "financial responsibility" statutes was therefore consistent with the common usage of that term. Both the 1955 and 1947 acts employed the term in statutes that required owners of motor vehicles to produce "proof of financial accountability as a condition to acquiring a license and registration so that judgments rendered against them arising out of the operation of the vehicles might be satisfied." Black's Law DictionaRY 631 (6th ed. 1990). As used by the Florida legislature, "financial responsibility" was compulsory insurance or its equivalent, triggered by an accident or an adverse judgment, which was a condition of operating or registering a motor vehicle. In Lynch-Davidson Motors v. Griffin, 182 So.2d 7, 8 (Fla.1966), the Florida Supreme Court described the operation of Florida's financial responsibility law and acknowledged its similarity to laws of other states:
[O]ur Financial Responsibility Law, like that of many other states, does not provide for compulsory liability insurance as a condition precedent to owning or operating a motor vehicle. Every owner or operator of a motor vehicle is allowed one 'free' accident (that is, one uninsured accident — although he must, of course, respond in damages, from what assets he owns, for injuries to persons or property for which he is legally liable).
See Bankers & Shippers Ins. Co. of New York v. Phoenix Assur. Co. of New York, 210 So.2d 715, 718 (Fla.1968).
As Enterprise points out, Florida's passage of financial responsibility laws in 1947 and 1955 was part of a legislative movement in the last century to confront the effects of motor vehicle accidents. The United States Supreme Court described the development of financial responsibility laws in Kesler v. Dep't of Pub. Safety, 369 U.S. 153, 82 S.Ct. 807, 7 L.Ed.2d 641 (1962), overruled in part by Swift & Co. v. Wickham, 382 U.S. Ill, 86 S.Ct. 258, 15 L.Ed.2d 194 (1965), and Perez v. Campbell, 402 U.S. 637, 91 S.Ct. 1704, 29 L.Ed.2d 233 (1971). There, the United States Supreme Court referenced Florida as one of twenty-one states that had adopted "material provisions" of a "Uniform Code with respect to financial responsibility." Kesler, 369 U.S. at 165 n. 29, 82 S.Ct. 807.
In sum, Congress used the term "financial responsibility" in its ordinary and common meaning, the way the term was used in statutes in Florida and across the country, to denote a minimum level of compulsory insurance or its equivalent, which was a condition of licensure and registration. See Garcia, 510 F.Supp.2d at 830 (stating that "the common usage of the term 'financial responsibility laws' means requiring an owner and/or operator of a motor vehicle to possess and have proof of minimum levels of insurance").
Given this definition of "financial responsibility," we conclude that section 324.021(9)(b)2 is not the type of law that Congress intended to exclude from preemption. The "Florida legislature's endorsement of and limitations on" the vicarious liability imposed under the dangerous instrumentality doctrine is not a "financial responsibility" requirement. Garcia, 540 F.3d at 1249.
First, section 30106(b)(1) exempts laws "imposing financial responsibility on the owner of a motor vehicle for the privilege of registering and operating a motor vehicle." Section 324.021(9)(b)2 is in no way linked to this privilege; it does not require short term lessors to purchase insurance. The monetary figures in the statute are caps on liability unrelated to a lessor's ability to register a motor vehicle. Sections 324.021(7), 324.051, and 324.071, Florida Statutes (2007), implement Florida's financial responsibility scheme.
Second, subsection 30106(b)(2) exempts state laws which "impos[e] liability on business entities engaged in the trade or business of renting or leasing motor vehicles for failure to meet the financial responsibility or liability insurance requirements under State law." Section 324.021(9)(b)2 is not a "financial responsibility or liability insurance requirement"; the section does not require short term lessors to purchase insurance. We agree with the analysis of the district court in Garcia concerning the interplay between this federal exclusion and section 324.021(9)(b)2:
[Section 324.021(9)(b)2] does not create insurance standards for entities that register and operate motor vehicles within Florida. Nor does it impose liability on owners of motor vehicles for failing to comply with state insurance requirements. A careful reading of § 324.021(9)(b)(2) shows that it does not impose any insurance requirements on anyone or even mention the term "financial responsibility." This section speaks solely in terms of "liability." A lessor of motor vehicles in the state of Florida could operate without any insurance whatsoever, and would never fall within the scope of § 324.021(9)(b)2. Rather, this section simply means that if you are engaged in the business of leasing or renting motor vehicles for periods of less than a year, and if you are sued under a theory of vicarious liability, the maximum amount that you will be liable for (with or without insurance) cannot exceed $350,000.
The Plaintiffs place great emphasis on the provisions in § 324.021(9)(b)2 which raise the liability caps by an additional $500,000 if the lessor leases a motor vehicle to someone who carries insurance of less than $500,000. According to the Plaintiffs, this sentence establishes "the outward bounds of financial responsibility-$500,000-then uses a carrot-lower financial responsibility-to entice lessors to help assure that lessees will be financially responsible." The Plaintiffs are simply wrong. First, this provision does not impose any liability on lessors for failing to meet Florida's insurance requirements; it simply states that the most a motor vehicle lessor can potentially be held vicariously liable for may increase by another $500,000 in certain circumstances. It is a contingency provision, effectively creating a cost-benefit risk analysis for motor vehicle lessors. A lessor could choose to rent to operators who have lower levels of insurance without any consequences or penalties by the state. In such a situation, the lessor would merely assume the risk of possibly being liable for a higher level of damages should an accident and lawsuit ensue.
Garcia, 510 F.Supp.2d at 831 (footnotes omitted). As the district judge observed, no Florida statute requires owners or lessors of motor vehicles to "possess insurance in the amount of $500,000 combined property and personal injury. To the contrary, [section] 324.021[ (7) ] itself defines the minimum standards for insurance in Florida." Id.
Section 324.021(9)(b)2 is thus neither a financial responsibility statute nor an insurance requirement under section 30106(b). Rather, the statute is an outgrowth of the dangerous instrumentality doctrine that codifies and caps the vicarious liability imposed on lessors of motor vehicles. See Fischer v. Alessandrini, 907 So.2d 569, 570-71 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (recognizing that section 324.021(9)(b)2 was enacted to rectify "perceived inequities" in the dangerous instrumentality doctrine by imposing limits on the liability of lessors who rent or lease a motor vehicle for less than a year).
In a case involving section 324.021(9)(b)l, we rejected the notion that that statute was a financial responsibility law or insurance requirement. Folmar v. Young, 591 So.2d 220, 222 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991). After examining the legislative history and plain language of the act, we concluded that the statute "constitutes an exception to the dangerous instrumentality doctrine in the case of long-term lessors." Id.; see Kraemer v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 572 So.2d 1363, 1367 (Fla. 1990) (citing Folmar with approval); Enterprise Leasing Co. v. Hughes, 833 So.2d 832, 838 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002) (holding that § 324.021(9)(b)2 "merely limits the liability of short-term lessors.... The statute reduces responsibility for damages arising from the fault of others but preserves full liability for compensatory damages caused by one's own fault. The statute merely caps the amount of damages for the vicarious liability of the lessor.").
Folmar also rejected the argument that the placement of the statute in Chapter 324, entitled "Financial Responsibility," controlled the characterization of the statute. Folmar, 591 So.2d at 222. Section 324.021(9)(b)2 was added to Chapter 324 in 1999, long after the earlier codifications of financial responsibility law. See Ch. 99- 225, § 28, at 1421, Laws of Fla. The section developed apart from the financial responsibility aspects of the chapter. Thus, Folmar rejected a superficial, label-based legal analysis and focused on the language of the statute in deciding the case.
For these reasons, we join with those courts that have concluded that the Graves Amendment preempts section 324.021(9)(b)2. See Kumarsingh, 983 So.2d at 600; Bechina v. Enterprise Leasing Co., 972 So.2d 925 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007); St. Onge v. White, 988 So.2d 59 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008); Garcia, 540 F.3d 1242; Garcia, 510 F.Supp.2d at 833; Dupuis v. Vanguard Car Rental USA, Inc., 510 F.Supp.2d 980 (M.D.Fla.2007).
We reject the analysis of Judge Farmer's dissent. First, the dissent fails to adequately address what Congress meant when it used the term "financial responsibility" in section 30106(b). This failure led to the opinion nullifying the intent of the statute. The heart of the dissent's reasoning turns on the inclusion of subsection 324.021(9)(b) in a chapter entitled "Financial Responsibility," and in a section entitled "Definitions; minimum insurance required." The opinion uses these labels to muse about the intent of the drafters of the Florida statute. However, what is important here is what Congress intended when it used the term "financial responsibility"; Congress did not define the term by reference to Chapter 324, Florida Statutes. The dissent's label-based legal analysis fails to acknowledge that Congress used the term in a specific historical context.
Second, Judge Farmer's discussion of federal preemption principles overlooks the basic tenet of statutory construction that a court should give effect to Congress' intent. "[T]he purpose of Congress is the ultimate touchstone in every preemption case." Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc., 505 U.S. 504, 516, 530, 112 S.Ct. 2608, 120 L.Ed.2d 407 (1992). The dissent construes the Graves Amendment so broadly that vicarious liability disappears into "financial responsibility"; the exception thus swallows the rule.
Next, Vargas contends that Congress does not have the authority, under the Commerce Clause, to preempt Section 324.021(9)(b)2, and similar state laws imposing vicarious liability on lessors of motor vehicles. Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution states that "Congress shall have the power . [t]o regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." On this issue, we agree with the detailed analyses of the Eleventh Circuit and district court in Garcia, and align ourselves with those courts that have upheld its constitutionality. See 510 F.Supp.2d at 833-837, aff'd, 540 F.3d at 1249-53; Bechina, 972 So.2d at 926-27; St. Onge, 988 So.2d at 59; Dupuis v. Vanguard Car Rental USA, Inc., 510 F.Supp.2d 980 (M.D.Fla.2007); Jasman v. DTG Operations, Inc., 533 F.Supp.2d 753 (W.D.Mich.2008); Flagler v. Budget Rent A Car Sys., Inc., 538 F.Supp.2d 557 (E.D.N.Y.2008); Seymour v. Penske Truck Leasing Co., No. 407CV015, 2007 WL 2212609, at *3-5 (S.D.Ga. July 30, 2007); Graham v. Dunkley, 50 A.D.3d 55, 852 N.Y.S.2d 169 (N.Y.App.Div.2008).
We also reject the constitutional challenges raised in the last two paragraphs of Vargas's initial brief. Vargas does not have standing to raise the due process/retroactive application claim, since the accident that gave rise to the lawsuit occurred six months after the effective date of the Graves Amendment. Because the Amendment is not applied retroactively to him, it is not being "applied to his disadvantage." See Utah Power & Light Co. v. Pfost, 286 U.S. 165, 186, 52 S.Ct. 548, 76 L.Ed. 1038 (1932). There is no substantive due process or equal protection violation, because the Graves Amendment satisfies the rational basis test — Congress had the power to preempt imposition of vicarious liability on a national industry that markets a product that is a component of interstate travel, where vicarious liability imposes $100 million in costs on consumers.
Finally, we certify the following as a question of great public importance:
DOES THE GRAVES AMENDMENT, 49 U.S.C. § 30106 PREEMPT SECTION 324.021(9)(b)2, FLORIDA STATUTES (2007)?
Affirmed.
SHAHOOD, C.J., STONE, WARNER, TAYLOR and MAY, JJ., concur.
PARMER, J., dissents with opinion in which POLEN, STEVENSON and HAZOURI, JJ., concur.
HAZOURI, J., dissents with opinion in which FARMER and STEVENSON, JJ., concur.
KLEIN and DAMOORGIAN, JJ., recused.
. Although we are not required to follow the Eleventh Circuit on questions of federal law, we find it to be persuasive on the preemption question presented in this case. See Carnival Corp. v. Carlisle, 953 So.2d 461, 465 (Fla.2007); Pignato v. Great Western Bank, 664 So.2d 1011, 1015 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995).
. Section 324.021(7), Florida Statutes (2007) contains a similar definition, with different monetary amounts.
. The amounts of required insurance under the 1947 act were $5,000 for bodily injury or death of one person in any one accident, $10,000 for bodily injury or death to two or more persons in any one accident, and $1,000 because of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one accident. Chapter 23626, Florida Statutes (1947) § (l)(f).
. The mechanism of Florida's financial responsibility law operates to ensure minimum levels of responsibility following an accident. After a motor vehicle accident, the investigating law enforcement officer must forward a report of the crash to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. § 324.05 l(l)(a), Fla. Stat. (2007). The Department is required to suspend "the license of each operator and all registrations of the owner of the vehicles operated by such operator." § 324.05 l(2)(a), Fla. Stat. (2007). The suspension requirement is subject to certain exceptions; one of these is that the owner or operator had in effect at the time "of the crash an automobile liability policy with respect to all of the registered motor vehicles owned by such operator or owner," containing "limits of not less than those specified in s. 324.021(7)." § 324.05 l(2)(b), Fla. Stat. (2007). Section 324.021(7) contains the $10, 000/$20,000/$ 10,000 mínimums that establish proof of financial responsibility.
. In Garcia, the eleventh circuit made the same observation in rejecting the appellants' argument, which was similar to the reasoning in Brookins:
If we construe the Graves Amendment's savings clause as appellants wish, it would render the preemption clause a nullity. Every vicarious liability suit would be rescued because it could result in a judgment in favor of an accident victim, even though the judgment is premised on the very vicarious liability the Amendment seeks to eliminate. The exception would swallow the rule.
540 F.3d at 1248.