AUGUSTINE J. CHENERY, MARY H. CHENERY, JANE HUNT ALANDER, ELIZABETH R. KOSS, ELEANOR F. CROWELL, AND WILLIAM PILLSBURY, APPELLANTS,
v.
ROBERT R. CRANS, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1986-09-12
No. 85-1946
RYDER, A.C.J., and LEHAN, J., concur.
497 So. 2d 267 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1986) Caution
Cited by 8 cases

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Synopsis

Unit owners in a condominium appealed a judgment denying their claims against the developer for failure to provide required parking spaces. The appellate court reversed, finding that the trial court erroneously bifurcated the case and denied the unit owners their constitutional right to a jury trial by trying equitable claims before the interrelated legal claims.


Holding

The appellate court held that the trial court erred in bifurcating the case because the issues in all three counts were interrelated such that the trial court's findings on the constructive trust claim would necessarily bind the jury on the damages claim. The unit owners did not waive their right to jury trial by acquiescing to the non-jury proceedings on the constructive trust claim, and therefore were entitled to a jury trial on all issues.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court errs by bifurcating a suit and trying equitable claims before interrelated legal claims, thereby depriving a litigant of their constitutional right to a jur…

[2] A litigant does not waive their right to a jury trial by acquiescing to a non-jury trial on equitable issues when those issues are interrelated with legal issues that are…

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Key Quotes

“[W]here one is entitled to a jury trial on issues sufficiently similar or related to the issues not triable to a jury, and where a determination by the first fact-finder would necessarily bind the later factfinder, such issues may not be tried non-jury by the court because to do so would deprive the litigant of his constitutional right to trial by jury.”

Establishes the controlling legal standard that prohibits bifurcation when equitable and legal issues are interrelated and the equitable determination would bind the jury.

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Facts & Procedural History

Unit owners of Naples Bay Club Condominium filed suit against developer Crans alleging he failed to provide adequate parking as required by law and mi…

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

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Opinion of the Court
SANDERLIN, Judge.

SANDERLIN, Judge.

Appellants, certain unit owners in Naples Bay Club Condominium, appeal a final judgment which denied all of their claims against appellee Crans, the developer. They also challenge a post trial order which awarded Crans attorney’s fees and costs. For the reasons stated below, we reverse both the judgment and the order, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Appellants filed a complaint against Crans, Count I of which sought the imposition of a constructive trust on lands retained by Crans

for the benefit of plaintiffs to provide them with the parking required by law because of defendant’s inequitable, unconscionable or fraudulent conduct, or abuse of confidence in first submitting as developer said land to condominium ownership and then not using it all for the benefit of the condominium and required parking, in representing that he would provide more parking spaces than he actually provided, and in not providing the parking space[s] required by the Naples zoning ordinances.

Count II sought damages under section 718.506, Florida Statutes (1983), relating to publication of false and misleading information. Count III alleged Crans, as president of the condominium association, had breached his fiduciary duty, and, again, sought a constructive trust as the remedy. The complaint demanded a jury trial “for those issues triable by a jury,” money damages, injunctions, and a constructive trust.

Thereafter, the trial court issued an order bifurcating the suit, with the equitable issues to be tried by the court and the remaining issues to be tried by a jury. At the beginning of the bench trial, appellants’ counsel announced that he was only presenting their case for a constructive trust. He reiterated this in his written closing argument.

After considering the evidence and argument of counsel, the trial court issued its final judgment which denied all of appellants’ claims. Following entry of final judgment and upon Crans’ amended motion to tax costs, the trial court awarded attorney’s fees and costs to Crans.

As their first point on appeal, appellants argue that the trial court erred in hearing their equitable claims before a jury could determine their interrelated legal claims. We agree.

In Magram v. Raffel, 443 So. 2d 396 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), the third district held:

[Wjhere one is entitled to a jury trial on issues sufficiently similar or related to the issues not triable to a jury, and where a determination by the first fact-finder would necessarily bind the later factfinder, such issues may not be tried non-jury by the court because to do so would deprive the litigant of his constitutional right to trial by jury. [Citations omitted.]

Id. at 397 (approving Adams v. Citizens Bank of Brevard, 248 So. 2d 682 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971)). See also Beacon Theatres, Inc., v. Westover, 359 U.S. 500, 79 S.Ct. 948, 3 L.Ed.2d 988 (1959); Cerrito v. Kovitch, 457 So. 2d 1021 (Fla.1984); Kies v. Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, 435 So. 2d 410 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983); Cheek v. McGowan Electric Supply Co., 404 So. 2d 834 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981); Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority v. Alderman, 238 So. 2d 678 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970).

In the present case, there is no question that appellants’ claim for damages under section 718.506 is triable by jury, and that their constructive trust claim is generally triable by the court. Cf K.M.A. Associates, Inc. v. Meros, 452 So. 2d 580 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984) (trial court erred in severing legal malpractice claim from claim for constructive trust and setting the former claim for jury trial, with a bench trial for the latter claim to follow, where issues involved in both claims were so related that a jury trial should have been afforded on all issues). It is arguable, however, whether appellants’ cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty is equitable or legal, in that the remedy sought for the breach was the imposition of a constructive trust. See, e.g., King Mountain Condominium Association v. Gundlach, 425 So. 2d 569 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982) (cause of action for breach of fiduciary relationship which sought remedy of disgorgement of secret profits by developer-appointed, initial officers and directors of condominium association was equitable cause not giving rise to right for trial by jury).

By bifurcating the case and trying the constructive trust claim first and ultimately ruling on all claims, the trial court denied appellants of their right to jury trial on their damages claim. Even if the trial court had only ruled on the constructive trust claim, appellants still would have been denied their right to a jury trial on the damages claim because the issues in both claims were so related that the trial court’s initial findings of fact on the constructive trust claim would necessarily bind the jury when it .later heard the damages claim.

Appellants demanded a jury trial on all legal issues and did not affirmatively waive that right, either by written waiver or announcement in open court. See Barth v. Florida State Constructors Service, Inc., 327 So. 2d 13 (Fla.1976); Kies; Cheek. This right was not waived by their acquiescence to a non-jury trial on the constructive trust claim. See, e.g., Kies (appellants did not waive right to jury trial by acquiescence to non-jury trial on coverage issues raised by cross-claim and counterclaim where issues were identical to legal issues determinable by jury); Cheek (defendant did not waive right by his failure to object when trial court announced its decision to take case from jury).

Because the issues presented in all three counts of appellants’ complaint were interrelated, if not identical, the trial court erred in severing the case, trying the constructive trust claim first, and then ruling on all claims. Consistent with this court’s decision in K.M.A. Associates, Inc. v. Me-ros, we reverse the final judgment and the post-judgment order awarding Crans attorney’s fees and costs, and remand to the trial court with directions that a jury trial should be afforded on all issues. 452 So. 2d at 582. Although, as the fifth district noted in Kies, it seems “strange” to reverse the judgment after appellants acquiesced to the non-jury proceedings, the supreme court’s decision in Barth requires the court to do so. Kies, 435 So. 2d at 410.

Because of our disposition of the case, we need not address appellants’ remaining points on appeal.

Reversed and remanded with directions.

RYDER, A.C.J., and LEHAN, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Billian v. Mobil Corp., 710 So. 2d 984 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)
    …issues on a related equitable claim, the trial court is bound by the jury’s findings of fact in making its ruling on the equitable claim. See Adams, 248 So. 2d at 684; Marshall v. Sprecher, 559 So. 2d 1280, 1281 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990); Chenery v. Crans, 497 So. 2d 267, 269 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). Legal and equitable issues are “sufficiently similar” or “intertwined” if a jury, in order to return a verdict in an action at law, would necessarily have to decide a fact issue of the legal claim which is also a required el…
  • Marshall v. Sprecher, 559 So. 2d 1280 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)
    …e equitable aspect of this matter, i.e. that the covenant was or was not breached, would bind a subsequent jury through collateral estoppel and thus deny the defendant a trial by jury in the resolution of the claim for damages. See Chenery v. Crans, 497 So. 2d 267 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); Magram v. Raffel, 443 So. 2d 396 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984). Cf. Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority v. Alderman, 238 So. 2d 678 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970) (trial court did not err in ordering that the threshold issue of whether there had been a…
  • C & C Wholesale, Inc. v. Fusco Mgmt. Corp., 564 So. 2d 1259 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)
    …as count I, for which the appellants requested a jury trial. The record convinces us that the issues involved in the several counts are so interwoven that a determination by the first fact-finder would probably bind the second. See Chenery v. Crans, 497 So. 2d 267, 269 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). Thus, they are properly triable by a jury along with count I. The only wrinkle is that Appellant Williams and Appellee Fusco were parties to a lease which specifically waived the right to jury trial as to any issue arising…

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