INTERTRACK TRANSPORTATION, INC., HIALEAH PARK, INC., HIALEAH, INC., AND GULFSTREAM PARK RACING ASSOCIATION, INC., APPELLANTS,
v.
B & G HORSE TRANSPORTATION, INC., APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1981-09-08
No. 80-1917
Before BARKDULL, SCHWARTZ and FERGUSON, JJ.
403 So. 2d 1058 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1981) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Intertrack Transportation and its parent companies appealed from a judgment denying them damages on an injunction bond for a temporary injunction that restrained them from transporting horses without proper certification. The court reversed, finding the temporary injunction was wrongfully issued as an invalid prior restraint, entitling the appellants to damages and attorney's fees.


Holding

The court reversed and held that the temporary injunction was wrongfully issued as an invalid prior restraint as to all appellants. Hialeah Park and Gulfstream Park are entitled to damages and attorney's fees because the Public Service Commission subsequently determined they had the right to van horses using their own employees and equipment without certification. Intertrack Transportation is also entitled to damages and attorney's fees because it had a right to plan the action even though it could not actually operate illegally, and the injunction constituted an invalid prior restraint.


Headnotes

[1] A temporary injunction is wrongfully issued when it restrains parties from engaging in acts that are not prohibited by law.

[2] A temporary injunction may be considered wrongfully issued if it constitutes an invalid prior restraint on lawful activity.

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Key Quotes

“the temporary injunction was not dissolved on the merits and that the injunction was not wrongfully issued, but that the defendants below were restrained from doing acts which the law prohibited”

The trial court's reasoning for denying damages, which the appellate court rejected

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Facts & Procedural History

B & G Horse Transportation, a certified horse transporter under Florida law, sought a temporary injunction against Intertrack Transportation, which wa…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Intertrack Transportation, Inc., Hialeah Park, Inc., and Gulfstream Park Racing Association, defendants below, appeal from an order granting the motion of appellee B & G Horse Transportation, Inc. for a judgment on the pleadings and determining that appellants were not entitled to recovery of damages on an injunction bond for the wrongful issuance of a temporary injunction.

B & G Horse Transportation is certified to transport horses pursuant to Section 323.03, Florida Statutes (1977).

Intertrack Transportation was formed by appellants Hialeah Park and Gulfstream Park to transport horses between the Hialeah and Gulfstream tracks. Because Intertrack had not filed for a certificate of public convenience and necessity required by Section 323.03, Florida Statutes (1977), B & G moved for declaratory relief and a temporary injunction enjoining appellants from providing intertrack transportation. In Hialeah, Inc. v. B & G Horse Transportation, Inc., 368 So. 2d 930 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979), this court reversed the order of temporary injunction as an invalid prior restraint where Intertrack had not actually operated a vehicle in violation of Chapter 323, Florida Statutes (1977).

Appellants then filed a motion for an evidentiary hearing to fix damages and attorney’s fees. The hearing was deferred until after a final hearing on the merits of B & G’s complaint. In a final summary judgment entered on B & G’s complaint, the trial court declared that if Intertrack were to engage in transportation of race horses between Hialeah and Gulf-stream, it would be a motor carrier as defined in Section 323.01(7), Florida Statutes (1977), engaged directly in compensation for hire and would be required to obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity before it could operate. The damage issue was then reset for trial and upon a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by B & G, the trial court held that none of the appellants were entitled to recover damages or attorney’s fees. The court specifically found that the temporary injunction was not dissolved on the merits and that the injunction was not wrongfully issued, but that the defendants below were restrained from doing acts which the law prohibited.

We reverse the trial court and find that the temporary injunction was wrongfully issued as to all appellants. The Public Service Commission subsequently found Hialeah Park, Inc. and Gulfstream Park Racing Association, Inc. had the right to van horses using their own employees and own equipment between the parks without a certificate or permit. Regardless of the intent of the complaint or of the final order, the actual wording and legal effect of the order of temporary injunction restrained not only Intertrack but also Hialeah and Gulfstream. The trial court made no finding that the vanning of horses by Hialeah or Gulfstream would be in any way prohibited or unlawful. We, therefore, reverse and remand as to Hialeah and Gulf-stream for a determination of attorney’s fees and damages.

As to appellant Intertrack Transportation, Inc., we also find that the injunction was wrongfully issued. Here, unlike the case of Penner v.

Y. M.

C. A., 20 Fla.Supp. 106 (Fla. 11th Cir.Ct.1962) cited by appellees, the injunction was determined to be wrongfully issued as an invalid prior restraint.1 Intertrack had a right to plan the action, although it had no right to actually transport horses in an illegal manner. Hialeah, Inc., supra. This clearly is a decision on the merits of the validity of the temporary injunction.

Accordingly, we find that the temporary injunction was wrongfully issued as to appellant Intertrack and that as an element of damages, Inter-track is entitled to an award of attorney’s fees for the wrongfully issued injunction. See, e. g., Wittich v. O’Neal, 22 Fla. 592 (1886), Global Contact Lens, Inc. v. Knight, 254 So. 2d 807, 810 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971).

Reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

. We note that the court in Penner, supra at 110, recognized that an injunction may be wrongfully issued even when a person is restrained from doing that which he had no legal right to do. Examples of this are cases where there is an invalid prior restraint, as in this case.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Calder Race Course, Inc. v. Gaitan, 430 So. 2d 975 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)
    …da Statutes, predecessor to 60.-07). Once a separate action at law on the injunction bond is instituted, damages may be assessed and attorneys’ fees are an element of the damages. Intertrack Transportation, Inc. v. B & G Horse Transportation, Inc., 403 So. 2d 1058 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); Knight v. Global Contact Lens, Inc., 319 So. 2d 622 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975), cert. denied, 336 So. 2d 1182 (Fla.1976); Carpenters Dis trict Council of Jacksonville v. Waybright, 282 So. 2d 193 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973); Global Contact Lens,…

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