Plaintiff sued defendant for statutory and tort claims. Defendant moved to dismiss per Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.140 based on forum selection clause in contract signed with Plaintiff that governed all disputes between the parties. Defendant introduced forum selection clause by attaching a copy of the applicable contact to his Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff had… Read more
In this case, the plaintiffs filed a complaint for a “pure bill of discovery” to obtain information attempting to confirm plaintifffs’ suspicions that a 50% owner of the subject company had misappropriated corporate assets. The trial court dismissed the complaint, and the appellate court affirmed, on the basis that “the bill of discovery was improper because the [plaintiffs]… Read more
In this mortgage foreclosure case, the trial court issued a 60-day notice of lack of prosecution. Although counsel received a copy of the notice within the 60-day period, plaintiff did not respond within this period or show good cause in writing at least five days before the hearing why the action should remain pending. The… Read more
An issue that comes up every so often and always leaves me looking for a citation is the long settled rule that a corporation cannot represent itself. Thanks to the Third DCA in Opella vs. Bayview, Case No. 3D09-2921 (Fla. 3d DCA Nov. 24, 2010), I now have my case: Szteinbaum v. Kaes Inversiones y… Read more
This guaranty case states the simple rule that “pleadings are required to be in the English language.” The lender’s complaint against the borrower attached a copy of the guaranty in Spanish, a “Garantia Personal.” It was not translated into English. The trial court granted summary judgment for the lender. The appellate court reversed, reasoning that the… Read more
This slip and fall Plaintiff struggled with her Complaint, amending it three times after the initial filing. Nevertheless, through all of the amendments, the substantive factual allegations remained unchanged. The Third Amended Complaint was filed, however, after the statute of limitations ran on the underlying cause of action and the trial court dismissed the case… Read more
In this attorneys’ fees case, Ramle Int’l prevailed at trial and was awarded attorneys’ fees as part of the judgment. The trial court reserved jurisdiction as to the amount of fees and Ramle waited eleven months to file its motion to determine the amount of attorneys’ fees owed. After Ramle moved for a determination of fees, The… Read more
In this declaratory judgment contract action, the defendant did not initially plead entitlement to attorneys’ fees in its answer, but was permitted leave to amend later in the case to add the request. The plaintiff appealed, and the appellate court affirmed, holding that “the trial court did not abuse its discretion by granting . .… Read more
In this homeowner association dispute, the association obtained a stay from arbitration and petitioned the circuit court for a temporary injunction seeking access to a unit to make repairs. The court denied the petition because the association had not established an “emergency” basis for relief. The unit owner filed a motion for attorneys’ fees claiming that… Read more
In this case, a defendant filed a motion in 2007 to set aside a default judgment that had been entered and recorded in 1993. He claimed that he never received pleadings in the case or the judgments themselves. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s finding that excusable neglect had not been established, because the… Read more