JOHN W. MIDDELVEEN AND PATRICIA KATHLEEN MIDDELVEEN, APPELLANTS,
v.
SIBSON REALTY, INC., APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1982-07-07
No. 81-599
SHARP and COWART, JJ., concur.
417 So. 2d 275 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1982) Positive Treatment
Cited by 21 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.


Holding

The court held that a general verdict is proper without objection, and specific objections are required to preserve jury instruction errors for appeal.


Headnotes

[1] Where a general verdict form is submitted to the jury without objection, reversal is improper if no error is found as to at least one of the issues submitted to the jury…

[2] To preserve for appellate review an alleged error in the giving of a jury instruction requested by the opposing party in a civil action, a distinct and specific objection…

Previewing 2 of 3 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiff recovered a judgment for a real estate commission after a jury trial. Defendants appealed, arguing errors in directed verdict rulings and ju…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
ORFINGER, Chief Judge.

ORFINGER, Chief Judge.

Appellee, plaintiff below, recovered a judgment against appellants for a real estate commission, following a jury trial. Defendants appeal and we affirm.

At the close of plaintiff’s case, the court granted defendants’ motion for a directed verdict as to Count 3 of the four-count amended complaint, denied the motion as to one count, and reserved ruling on the remaining two counts. The court announced that it reserved further consideration of this motion until the jury had been instructed and had retired. After the jury retired, the court heard further argument, granted the motion as to Count 4, and denied it as to Counts 1 and 2.

Appellants first contend that it was error to instruct the jury on Count 4 and then grant defendants’ motion for a directed verdict as to that count, because it is now impossible to determine if the jury considered that count in reaching a verdict. The jury was given only a general verdict form, so it is not possible to determine on which of the counts the verdict for plaintiff was rendered. Appellants did not request special verdicts, nor did they object to the use of a general verdict. Where a general verdict form is submitted to the jury without objection, reversal is improper where no error is found as to one of several issues submitted to the jury on which the verdict may be properly based. Whitman v. Castle-wood Intern. Corp., 383 So. 2d 618 (Fla.1980); Colonial Stores, Inc. v. Scarbrough, 355 So. 2d 1181 (Fla.1977); Rosenfelt v. Hall, 387 So. 2d 544 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980). No reversible error is shown as to this issue.

Appellants’ next contend that the trial court erred in giving certain jury instructions requested by appellee. With regard to the now complained of instructions, the record reflects either no objection at all, or only a general “I wish to object to the plaintiffs’ instruction number 3” type of objection. In a civil action, to properly preserve error for appellate review on the giving of an instruction requested by the opposing party, it is necessary that a distinct and specific objection be made. A general objection is not sufficient. Coleman v. Allen, 320 So. 2d 864 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975); DuPuis v. 79th Street Hotel, Inc., 231 So. 2d 532 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970). The objection may not be made for the first time on appeal. Lollie v. General Motors Corp., 407 So. 2d 613 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). Thus, in the face of no objection or only a general objection to instructions requested by the opposing party, the trial court has not been given the opportunity to rule on a specific point of law, and there is no issue created or preserved for appellate review.

With respect to the instructions requested in writing by appellant and rejected by the court, there is no requirement for additional objection to preserve that issue for appeal.1 In a civil proceeding, if a party submits a written request for a jury instruction, and it is rejected by the trial court, the issue is preserved for appellate review without more.2 Hattaway v. Florida Power & Light Co., 133 So. 2d 101 (Fla. 2d DCA 1961). Thus, although properly preserved for appellate review, we find the instructions requested by appellant and rejected by the trial court to be misleading and confusing, or else not supported by the evidence, and thus properly rejected.

We have considered appellants’ remaining issues and find them to be without merit. The final judgment appealed from is

AFFIRMED.

SHARP and COWART, JJ., concur. . Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.470(b) provides:

Instructions to Jury. Not later than at the close of the evidence, the parties shall file written requests that the court charge the jury on the law set forth in such requests. The court shall then require counsel to appear before it to settle the charges to be given. At such conference all objections shall be made and ruled upon and the court shall inform counsel of such general charges as it will give. No party may assign as error the giving of any charge unless he objects thereto at such time or the failure to give any charge unless he requested the same. The court shall charge the jury after the arguments are completed, (emphasis added).

. The rule is otherwise in a criminal proceeding, where a specific and distinct objection is required to the giving or the failure to give an instruction, in order to preserve an issue for appellate review. Fla.R.Cr.P. 3.390(d). See, e.g., Kelly v. State, 389 So. 2d 250 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980).


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (21 total)

  • Abrams v. Paul, 453 So. 2d 826 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
    …d severally.” We do not reach the merits of this argument because no such error is preserved absent an objection to the verdict form. See Whitman v. Castlewood [*830] International Corp., 383 So. 2d 618 (Fla. 1980); Middelveen v. Sibson Realty Inc., 417 So. 2d 275 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982); Rose’s Stores Inc. v. Mason, 338 So. 2d 1323 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976); High, Clarke & Feneis Inc. v. Public Service Mutual Insurance Co., 238 So. 2d 169 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970); Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.470(b). This issue would also, of course, be…
  • City OF Orlando v. Birmingham, 539 So. 2d 1133 (Fla. 1989)
    …n the trial court. As a general rule, appellate courts have steadfastly applied Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.470(b) to bar the appeal of jury instructions to which no objection was raised at the trial level.1 Middelveen v. Sibson Realty, Inc., 417 So. 2d 275, 277 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982), review denied, 424 So. 2d 762 (Fla.1982); Fleitas v. Robinson, 273 So. 2d 419 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973). Furthermore, in criminal cases where the alleged error is giving or failing to give a particular jury instruction, this Court…
  • Wagner v. Nottingham Assocs., 464 So. 2d 166 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)
    …g on appeal. Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.470(b) (“No party may assign as error the giving of any charge unless he objects thereto at such time or the failure to give any charge unless he requested the same.”) Middelveen v. Sibson Realty, Inc., 417 So. 2d 275 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982), pet. for review denied, 424 So. 2d 762 (Fla.1982); St. Regis Paper Co. v. Watson, 409 So. 2d 75 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982), rev’d on other grounds, 428 So. 2d 243 (Fla.1983); Schwab v. Tolley, 345 So. 2d 747 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977); Henning…

Previewing 3 of 21 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw