FLORIDA POWER CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
PAULINE C. PARKER ET AL., APPELLEES
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Florida Power Corporation appealed a jury verdict awarding compensatory and punitive damages to fee owners for erecting power lines and poles on their land without consent. The court affirmed, holding that Florida Power was not entitled to a directed verdict and that evidence supported a finding of willful or reckless disregard of the owners' rights.
The court held that the tenant's power to consent is determined from the lease and is a matter of law for the court, not the jury. Florida Power was not entitled to a directed verdict, and the evidence supported a conclusion that Florida Power entered and built knowingly and in willful or reckless disregard of rights reserved to the fee owners.
[1] A tenant's power to consent to a third party's use of leased property is determined by the terms of the lease agreement.
[2] A tenant's consent to an easement that extends beyond the leasehold term is ineffective without the consent of the fee owners.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the tenant's power to consent to Florida Power's use of the land during the leasehold term is to be determined from the lease, and that construction of the lease was a matter for the court, not the jury”
Establishes that lease interpretation is a legal question for the court rather than a jury question
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceFlorida Power erected and maintained power lines and poles on Hamilton County land owned by fee owners Parker et al. The property was leased to a tena…
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PER CURIAM.
Florida Power’s appeal questions a jury verdict and judgment against it, and for the fee owners of certain Hamilton County land, for $2,100 compensatory and $25,000 punitive damages for Florida Power’s erection and maintenance, without the fee owners’ consent but with the conditional consent of the tenant for years, of power lines and poles on that land. The lessee, whom the fee owners granted an exclusive right of possession until the year 2017, consented insofar as it could to the power line easement, upon a payment to the lessee to be determined, which was determined; and upon the additional condition that Florida Power acquire from the fee owners by a certain date, through negotiation or condemnation, the perpetual easement which Florida Power desired. That was not timely done, and Florida Power abandoned efforts to do so until many months later, when litigation forced the issue.
We would agree with Florida Power that the tenant’s power to consent to Florida Power’s use of the land during the leasehold term is to be determined from the lease, and that construction of the lease was a matter for the court, not the jury, but for the tenant’s power to withhold consent except on conditions, which here included satisfaction of the owners by acquisition of a perpetual easement, extending beyond the lease term by negotiation or condemnation. On the only issues presented to us, therefore, we find that Florida Power was not entitled to a directed verdict and that the evidence supported a conclusion that Florida Power entered and built knowingly and in willful or reckless disregard of rights reserved to the fee owners.
AFFIRMED.
SMITH, Acting C. J., and ERVIN and MELVIN, JJ., concur.