Contracts -- Sale of business -- Fraudulent inducement -- No
error in entering summary judgment against plaintiff on claim against buyers
for breach of contract -- Error to enter final judgment in favor of buyers on
counterclaim for fraudulent inducement where counterclaim was based on alleged
fraudulent misrepresentation regarding payroll costs of business, and estimated
labor costs in pro forma document prepared by one of the buyers before purchase
indicated that buyers were either aware of falsity of alleged misrepresentation
or its falsity would have been obvious to them
TERRY L. NORMAN, Appellant, v. JACK “JACKSON” PADGETT, MARK
NEGRETE, GEORGE L. KESSINGER, ADAM BURNETT and RONALD F. GOFRANK, Appellees.
4th District.
Creditors' rights -- Garnishment -- Trial court erred in
vacating clerk's certificate of dissolution of writ of garnishment where
judgment creditor did not file sworn objection to judgment debtor's claim of
exemption within three business days after claim had been hand delivered
CARLOS MARQUEZ, Appellant, vs. BLUECARE HOME HEALTH SVCS.,
INC., et al., Appellees. 3rd District.
Dissolution of marriage -- Attorney's fees -- Neither
marital settlement agreement nor section 57.105(7) provided basis for
attorney's fees awards in this case -- Attorney's fees provision in marital
settlement agreement, which tied the obligation to pay attorney's fees to
circumstances in which party defaulted on duty or obligation arising under the
agreement, did not apply in instant case in which neither party defaulted on an
obligation under the agreement -- Attorney's fees provision in marital
settlement agreement applied to both parties equally and, accordingly, was not
a unilateral provision necessitating the application of section 57.105(7) for
reciprocity purposes -- Remand for redetermination of wife's entitlement to
attorney's fees for work performed on emergency motion for temporary sole
custody and parental responsibility using statutory standard for attorney's
fees awards
JENNIFER SACKET, Appellant, v. KEVIN M. SACKET, Appellee.
4th District.
Dissolution of marriage -- Relief from judgment -- Error to
find that 2010 order entitled “Final Judgment of Uncontested Dissolution of
Marriage with Minor Children” was not a final judgment where the judgment
dismissed the wife's dissolution petition and ordered the payment of alimony
and child support unconnected with dissolution pursuant to section 61.09 --
Remand for consideration of merits of husband's motion to vacate
ZAHEER KHAN, Appellant, v. SHAZIA ZAHEER KHAN, Appellee. 4th
District.
Guardianship -- Incapacitated persons -- Counsel -- Error to
fail to appoint counsel for incapacitated person when guardian of property
filed renewed petition to determine incapacity and petition to appoint guardian
of ward's person -- Error to fail to appoint counsel for an alleged
incapacitated person upon determining that guardian needed to be appointed on
an emergency basis -- Claim that appointment of counsel was not necessary
because no “summary” proceeding was held is without merit -- Trial court's
decision to appoint an emergency temporary guardian after hearing evidence
presented at hearing on motion for temporary injunction to prevent removal of
purportedly incapacitated person from residential facility converted the
hearing into a “summary proceeding” for purposes of section 744.3031(1)
GLENDA MARTINEZ, as healthcare surrogate, attorney-in-fact,
and wife of J. ALAN SMITH, the Ward, Appellant, v. JOHN CRAMER, as emergency
temporary guardian of the Ward, Appellee. 4th District.
Insurance -- Uninsured motorist -- Damages -- Future medical
expenses -- Collateral source benefits -- Medicare benefits of developmentally
disabled adult plaintiff -- Trial court erred in excluding from jury evidence
of plaintiff's receipt of medical services under Medicare program for purpose
of determining future medical expenses -- Because there is no evidence that
plaintiff contributed to the financing of the Medicare program, the program's
benefits are unearned and not subject to exclusion under the collateral source
rule
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant,
v. JOHN JOERG, JR., Individually, and as natural father and guardian of Luke
Augustine Joerg, Appellee. 2nd District.
Mortgage foreclosure -- Civil procedure -- Summary judgment
-- Rehearing -- Excusable neglect -- Error for trial court to deny mortgagor's
motion for rehearing where mortgagor's attorney had failed to attend hearing on
bank's request for summary judgment because of a secretarial error --
Secretarial error is excusable neglect
BRIAN KELLY a/k/a BRIAN K. KELLY, Appellant, v. BANKUNITED,
FSB, Appellee. 4th District.
Mortgage foreclosure -- Civil procedure -- Summary judgment
-- Summary judgment resulting in final judgment of foreclosure was error where
mortgagee failed to present competent evidence it had provided mortgagors with
requisite notice and opportunity to cure default before acceleration -- Trial
court's reliance on unauthenticated copy of notice was error -- Trial court
erred in finding no issues of material fact remained where, despite its having
stricken defendants' affirmative defenses, it had not stricken their legally
sufficient denials of the allegations in the complaint -- No merit to
mortgagee's argument that the property owners failed to file any affidavits or
other materials in opposition to the motion for summary judgment, because there
is no requirement for a party to do so in order to defeat a motion for summary
judgment
JOE DiSALVO, III, and ELIZABETH ANN DiSALVO, Appellants, v.
SUNTRUST MORTGAGE, INC., Appellee. 2nd District.
Mortgage foreclosure -- Error to grant final summary
judgment of foreclosure where affirmative defenses were not conclusively
refuted on the record -- Allegations in verified complaint were not sufficient
to refute defenses where complaint was not based on personal knowledge
JANICE RUBBO LINDGREN, Appellant, v. DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST
COMPANY, Appellee. 4th District.
Mortgage foreclosure -- Reformation of mortgage -- Error to
reform mortgage to add legal description when granting plaintiff's motion for
summary judgment of foreclosure where issue of reformation was not raised as issue
to be addressed at summary judgment hearing
GREGORY J. WILLIS, Appellant, v. THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON
AS SUCCESSOR BY MERGER TO THE BANK OF NEW YORK AS TRUSTEE FOR THE CERTIFICATE
HOLDERS CWALT INC. ALTERNATIVE LOAN TRUST 2005-60TI MORTGAGE PASS THROUGH
CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2005-60TI, Appellee. 4th District.
Mortgage foreclosure -- Res judicata -- No error in denying
motion to vacate final judgment of foreclosure on ground that mortgagor's
participation in federal modification program rendered foreclosure inequitable
where mortgagor failed to raise this claim in a prior motion to vacate
ANGELA VIRGO, Appellant, v. NATIONAL CITY MORTGAGE CO., a
division of NATIONAL CITY BANK OF INDIANA n/k/a NATIONAL CITY BANK, Appellee.
4th District.
Paternity -- Child support -- Medical expenses -- Where
trial court imposed flat-rate obligation on father to cover unreimbursed
medical expenses and factored that amount into father's total child support
obligation, it was error to then order father to pay a percentage of
unreimbursed medical expenses in addition to this flat rate -- Income -- Where
appellate court remanded for recalculation of father's income for particular
year based on finding that trial court erroneously attributed wife's income to
him, trial court exceeded scope of mandate by going beyond deletion of wife's
income and completely recalculating father's income by crediting him with
business losses previously considered and rejected by trial court in original
proceedings -- Error to fail to consider cost of father's medical insurance in
calculating income -- Attorney's fees -- Trial court to reconsider whether, in
light of erroneous calculations that more than doubled father's income, there
is still significant disparity in parties' incomes to warrant requiring father
to pay mother's attorney's fees
HAROLD ROBERT RUSSELL, Appellant, v. HOLLY A. MCQUEEN,
Appellee. 5th District.
Paternity -- Child support -- Trial court abused its
discretion by failing to take into consideration economic effects of father's other
two children and anticipated costs of travel associated with fact that father
lives in New Jersey and child lives with primary custodial parent in Florida --
Child custody -- Parenting plan -- Inconsistencies and apparent typographical
errors in parenting plan to be corrected on remand
MICHAEL POPE, Appellant, v. REBECCA J. LANGOWSKI, n/k/a
REBECCA J. SMITH, Appellee. 4th District.
Torts -- Damages -- Past lost earnings -- Future lost
earning capacity -- Trial court properly denied defendant's motions for
directed verdict, remittitur, or new trial as to awards of past lost earnings
and future lost earning capacity, although evidence regarding these damages was
not corroborated by any income tax returns or other documents -- There is no
requirement that a claim for lost past earnings must be supported by
documentary evidence or income tax returns -- Issues were for jury to weigh in
assessment of plaintiff's credibility
MAGGOLC, INC., Appellant, vs. ROBERT ROBERSON, Appellee. 3rd
District.
Torts -- Indemnity -- Third-party action by lessor of
business premises against lessee, asserting claims for common law indemnity and
breach of contract after lessor had been sued in premises liability action by
lessee's employee who was injured during course and scope of employment at the
leased premises -- Lessor's third-party complaint was not barred by workers'
compensation immunity -- A third party's claim for common law indemnification
against a negligent employer is not barred by workers' compensation law -- In
seeking indemnification against lessee, lessor is not bound by allegations of
injured employee's complaint against lessor that lessor was actively negligent,
or by the fact that injured employee did not allege negligence on part of
lessee -- Trial court properly dismissed with prejudice lessor's common law
indemnity claim because lessor failed to show the existence of any special
relationship between himself and lessee that would make lessor vicariously,
constructively, derivatively, or technically liable to injured employee because
of lessee's negligence or fault -- Trial court properly dismissed lessor's
related claim that lessee breached contract by failing to have lessor named as
an additional insured on commercial general liability insurance policy --
Because lessor's common law indemnification claim failed to state cause of
action, related breach of contract claim may not be maintained as a third-party
claim -- Dismissal of breach of contract claim should have been without
prejudice because claim may be asserted in a separate action against lessee
TERRY TSAFATINOS, individually; and SIGMA TAF MANAGEMENT,
INC., Appellants, v. FAMILY DOLLAR STORES OF FLORIDA, INC.; DAVID C. SUGAS; and
BARBARA D. SUGAS, Appellees. 2nd District.
Torts -- Product liability -- Tobacco -- Venue -- Trial
court properly transferred case from Miami-Dade County Circuit Court to Orange
County Circuit Court where plaintiffs have been residents of Orange County
throughout history of smoking and the treatment for its results, and Miami-Dade
County has no relevant connection to case
ROY E. HALL, et al., Appellants, vs. R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO
COMPANY, etc., et al., Appellee. 3rd District.
Trusts -- Irrevocable trust -- Modification or reformation
-- Error to grant summary judgment excluding 27-year-old adoptee from becoming
beneficiary of trust, which provided that words of relationship in any degree
included legally adopted persons, on ground that inclusion of this adult
adoptee as beneficiary would defeat or substantially impair accomplishment of
material purpose of trust -- Absent any provision to the contrary, where trust
is created and executed in Florida, law presumes that settlor expected Florida
law to apply, and Florida law permits adult adoptions -- Whether adult adoption
substantially impaired accomplishment of material purpose of trust is issue
inappropriate for resolution on summary judgment -- Trial court also erred in
finding, as independent ground for granting summary judgment, that Pennsylvania
adoption procedure followed in the adult adoption at issue was not sufficiently
similar to Florida law to support a construction of the Trust that would treat
adult adoptee as a beneficiary -- Pennsylvania statute, which differs from
Florida law in that notice is not required to be given to financially
interested parties, is not so repugnant that adoption at issue is not entitled
to full faith and credit in Florida, as even under Florida statute petitioner
would not have been entitled to notice of Pennsylvania adoption because she had
only indirect and contingent interest in the adoption and did not stand to gain
or lose by direct legal operation and effect of the judgment
DIANNA ROBIN DENNIS, individually and as Co-Trustee of the
Thomas Gordon Dennis Revocable Trust of 1989 as amended and LAUREN KEELY HAWS,
Appellants, v. HARRIET D. KLINE and DEUTSCHE BANK TRUST COMPANY, N.A., as
Co-Trustee of the Thomas Gordon Dennis Revocable Trust 1989 as amended,
Appellees. 4th District.
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