COFFEE POT PLAZA PARTNERSHIP, APPELLANT,
v.
ARROW AIR CONDITIONING AND REFRIGERATION, INC., AND GULF SHORES INDUSTRIES, INC., D/B/A CLEO'S MEAT AND PRODUCE, APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 1982-03-17
No. 81-1464
OTT and SCHOONOVER, JJ., concur.
412 So. 2d 883 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1982) Negative Treatment
Cited by 33 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

Arrow Air Conditioning sued Coffee Pot Plaza Partnership for unjust enrichment after performing refrigeration equipment repairs for Gulf Shores Industries, which leased part of Coffee Pot's shopping center. The court reversed the trial court's unjust enrichment judgment against Coffee Pot, holding that Coffee Pot neither requested the work nor knowingly accepted its benefits, and that no actual benefit flowed to Coffee Pot.


Holding

Coffee Pot is not liable under unjust enrichment because: (1) Coffee Pot did not request the work and did not knowingly and voluntarily accept its benefits, acquiring control of the equipment only after Arrow completed the work when it was forced to terminate Gulf Shores' lease; and (2) no actual benefit flowed to Coffee Pot since it received no rental payments and could not find a new tenant.


Headnotes

[1] A party is liable for services rendered under an unjust enrichment theory only when the party requests the services or knowingly and voluntarily accepts their benefits.

[2] A party does not knowingly and voluntarily accept the benefits of services when the party comes into control of the subject property only after the services are completed…

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Key Quotes

“Where unjust enrichment is asserted, a party is liable for services rendered only when he requests the other party to perform the services or knowingly and voluntarily accepts their benefits.”

Establishes the legal standard for unjust enrichment liability in Florida

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Facts & Procedural History

Coffee Pot Plaza Partnership owned a shopping center containing a supermarket with refrigeration equipment. Coffee Pot leased half the supermarket and…

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Opinion of the Court
GRIMES, Acting Chief Judge.

GRIMES, Acting Chief Judge.

Arrow Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, Inc., recovered a judgment from Coffee Pot Plaza Partnership on the theory of unjust enrichment. On appeal, Coffee Pot challenges the trial court’s finding that the facts of this case fit that theory.

Coffee Pot purchased the Coffee Pot Plaza Shopping Center in St. Petersburg. The center included a vacant supermarket in which meat lockers and related refrigeration equipment were located. Coffee Pot divided the supermarket into two stores, one of which it leased along with the refrigeration equipment to Gulf Shores Industries for use as a meat market. The lease provided that Gulf Shores was responsible for the installation, maintenance, and repair of the equipment and that Gulf Shores would return the equipment to Coffee Pot in good repair at the end of the lease.

Subsequently, Gulf Shores entered into an agreement with Arrow for Arrow to repair and install the equipment. Arrow performed this work and billed Gulf Shores for $8,239.92. Gulf Shores operated the meat market for several months, but it never paid Arrow for the repairs and failed to pay rent to Coffee Pot under the lease. As a result of the failure to pay rent, Coffee Pot finally terminated the lease. Thereafter, in spite of a concerted effort, Coffee Pot was unable to lease the store again as a meat market.

Arrow brought the present action against Gulf Shores and Coffee Pot seeking to recover for the work it did. It asserted that Coffee Pot was obligated to pay for the work under theories of agency and unjust enrichment. After hearing the case without a jury, the court found that Gulf Shores was not Coffee Pot’s agent and dismissed Arrow’s claims premised on the agency theory. However, the court did find that Arrow was entitled to recover from Coffee Pot on the basis of unjust enrichment and entered an $8,239.92 judgment against both Gulf Shores and Coffee Pot.

We agree with Coffee Pot’s assertion that the facts and circumstances of this case do not justify Arrow’s recovery under an unjust enrichment theory. Where unjust enrichment is asserted, a party is liable for services rendered only when he requests the other party to perform the services or knowingly and voluntarily accepts their benefits. Nursing Care Services v. Dobos, 380 So. 2d 516 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). Here, Coffee Pot did not request that Arrow repair and install the refrigeration equipment. Moreover, it cannot be said that Coffee Pot knowingly and voluntarily accepted the benefits of Arrow’s work since it did not come into control of the equipment until after Arrow had completed the work and only then because it was forced to terminate Gulf Shores’ lease. That the equipment was personalty so as to prevent Arrow from filing a mechanics’ lien and that its size effectively precluded the maintenance of a possessory lien cannot change this result. Arrow contracted with Gulf Shores to do the work, and it must look to Gulf Shores for payment.

There is another reason why this judgment cannot stand. One basic element of unjust enrichment is that some benefit must flow to the party sought to be charged. Variety Children’s Hospital v. Vigliotti, 385 So. 2d 1052 (Fla.3d DCA 1980). While' the repairs no doubt enhanced the value of the equipment, it is speculative to say that any benefit has come to Coffee Pot since Coffee Pot did not receive its rental payments from Gulf Shores and has been unable to find a new tenant for its store.

We reverse the judgment of the trial court as it pertains to Coffee Pot and remand the case with directions that it enter judgment in Coffee Pot’s favor. OTT and SCHOONOVER, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (18 total)

  • …; Zaleznik, 576 So. 2d at 778; Henry M. Butler, Inc., 524 So. 2d at 710; Challenge Air Transport, Inc. v. Transportes Aereos Nacionales, 520 So. 2d 323 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988); Coffee Pot Plaza Partnership v. Arrow Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, Inc., 412 So. 2d 883, 884 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). . Yates v. Bernard's Carpet and Draperies, Inc., 481 So. 2d 515, 516 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986). . Policastro, 420 So. 2d at 326; Gilman Yacht Sales, Inc. v. First NatT Bank of Chicago, 600 So. 2d 1131, 1135 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992).…
  • Gomes v. Stevens, 548 So. 2d 1163 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989)
    …8). The appellees also had to establish that Mrs, Courts either requested the benefit or knowingly and voluntarily accepted it, Butler, and that the benefit flowed to her. Coffee Pot Plaza Partnership v. Arrow Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, Inc., 412 So. 2d 883 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). In this case, although it appears that Mrs. Courts knowingly and voluntarily allowed the improvements to her home, we cannot say as a matter of law that the appellees proved that a benefit flowed to her. Since the [*1165] record…
  • Hillman Constr. Corp. v. Wainer, 636 So. 2d 576 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994)
    …chment, but the trial court ruled that the count did not state a cause of action, citing Yates v. Bernard’s Carpet & Draperies Inc., 481 So. 2d 515 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985), and Coffee Pot Plaza Partnership v. Arrow Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Inc., 412 So. 2d 883 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). The elements of a cause of action for unjust enrichment are: (1) plaintiff has conferred a benefit on the defendant, who has knowledge thereof; (2) defendant voluntarily accepts and retains the benefit conferred; and (3) the cir…

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