JOHN AND JANET VALSECCHI, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ESTATE OF ROBERT J. VALSECCHI AND ANN AND RICHARD SCILEPPI, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ESTATE OF RICHARD W. SCILEPPI, APPELLANTS/CROSS-APPELLEES,
v.
PROPRIETORS INSURANCE CO., DELAND AVIATION, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, O.R. HUNT, DEAN V. WEST, APPELLEES/CROSS-APPELLANTS, AND CAETANO DA S. VITAL, ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LAWRENCE J. VITAL, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1987-02-24
No. 85-1079
Before BARKDULL, NESBITT and FERGUSON, JJ.
502 So. 2d 1310 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1987) Caution
Cited by 48 cases

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Synopsis

In this second appeal of a wrongful death case arising from an airplane crash, the court applies the doctrine of law of the case to prevent reconsideration of which state's law should govern liability and damages. The appellants attempted to argue that New York or Massachusetts law should apply instead of Florida law, but the court held this issue was foreclosed by the prior appeal's determination that Florida had the most significant relationship to the occurrence.


Holding

The law of the case doctrine forecloses reconsideration of the choice-of-law issue. Florida law applies, and the appellants waived their right to argue that New York or Massachusetts law should apply by not raising this argument in the first appeal.


Headnotes

[1] The law of the case doctrine prevents reconsideration of points of law that were, or should have been, adjudicated in a former appeal of the same case.

[2] The law of the case doctrine applies when an issue could have been raised but was not, or when a question was decided by implication.

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Key Quotes

“The law of the case is a principle adhered to by courts to avoid reconsideration of points of law which were, or should have been, adjudicated in a former appeal of the same case; its purpose is to lend stability to judicial decisions, to avoid piecemeal appeals, and to bring litigation to an end as expeditiously as possible.”

Establishes the purpose and scope of the law of the case doctrine

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Facts & Procedural History

An airplane crashed in North Carolina, killing several individuals. The decedents resided in Florida, but some survivors resided in New York and Massa…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

This wrongful death case is before us for a second time. The extensive facts may be found in the first case reported as Proprietors Ins. Co. v. Valsecchi, 435 So. 2d 290 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), review denied, 449 So. 2d 265 (Fla.1984).

The threshhold question is whether the issue now raised was decided in the former appeal. In answering the question we look to the first paragraph of the earlier opinion:

The primary issue questions the choice of law to be applied to the determination of liability and damages under conflict-of-law tests. This court must decide whether the trial court should have applied Florida or North Carolina law in determining liability and awarding damages. We have carefully analyzed conflict-of-law rules pertaining to the selection of applicable law and conclude that the trial court erred in applying the law of North Carolina, the site of the crash, rather than the law of Florida, the state with the most significant relationships. Accordingly, we reverse.

Valsecchi, 435 So. 2d at 290.

Appellants contend that we decided only which law should apply as between Florida, where the decedents resided, and North Carolina, where the airplane crashed — that this time they wish to have the trial court determine which law should apply as between Florida and New York and Massachusetts, where the decedents’ survivors reside. The trial court ruled that its previous determination that Florida law applies forecloses the question. We must agree with appellees that the previous determination is the law of this case.

The law of the case is a principle adhered to by courts to avoid reconsideration of points of law which were, or should have been, adjudicated in a former appeal of the same case; its purpose is to lend stability to judicial decisions, to avoid piecemeal appeals, and to bring litigation to an end as expeditiously as possible. Strazzulla v. Hendrick, 177 So. 2d 1 (Fla.1965). It is not necessary that the legal point raised in the latter appeal be presented precisely as it was in the former appeal; the law of the case principle is also applied where the issue could have been but was not raised, Airvac, Inc. v. Ranger Ins. Co., 330 So. 2d 467 (Fla.1976), or where the question was decided by implication. Alford v. Summerlin, 423 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982).

The dissenter in the first appeal noted that appellants chose not to make the argument they wish to make this time:

Because the appellants argue only that Florida, instead of North Carolina, law should apply, we are not informed — and need not concern ourselves — of the contents of the laws of New York or Massachusetts.

Valsecchi, 435 So. 2d at 301 n. 9. On review of the record and the opinion in the first appeal, it is abundantly clear that appellants had the opportunity to raise the issue now presented but did not, thereby waiving the right to object to the trial court’s rejection of it in a subsequent hearing.1

Further, we decided earlier, in accordance with the issues as framed, that Florida law applied, because Florida — applying the test adopted in Bishop v. Florida Specialty Paint Co., 389 So. 2d 999 (Fla.1980) —was the State with the most significant relationship to the occurrence. Valsecchi, 435 So. 2d at 297. Although the issue is framed differently in this appeal, the parties and the facts on which the decision was predicated remain the same. By implication, at least, we did exclude any other state as having a more significant relationship to the fatal crash.

Affirmed.

. Appellants’ decision not to argue, in the first appeal, that New York and Massachusetts had a more significant relationship to the accident is explained:

The damages recoverable under New York’s Wrongful Death Act are not nearly as liberal as the damages recoverable under North Carolina law. Neither, however, is the measure of damages under New York law as parsimonious as under Florida law. If New York law is applied on the issue of damages in this case, the plaintiffs will be entitled to recover all of their "pecuniary losses" — which, although they do not include pain and suffering, include more than merely funeral expenses. Brief of Appellants at 4 n. 3.

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Citator

Cited By (24 total)

  • Fla. Dep't OF Transp. v. Juliano, 801 So. 2d 101 (Fla. 2001)
    …ue could have been raised but was not raised); Williams v. City of Minneola, 619 So. 2d 983, 987 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993) (same); Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Hemmerle, 592 So. 2d 1110, 1116 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) (same); Valsecchi v. Proprietors Ins. Co., 502 So. 2d 1310, 1311 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987) (same). . In a subsequent article, Elligett and Schopp elaborate on the continuing confusion with the law of the case doctrine in the appellate courts. See Raymond T. Elligett, Jr., & Charles P. Schropp, Law of the Case Rev…
  • Williams v. City OF Minneola, 619 So. 2d 983 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993)
    …d have been, but was not, raised, Airvac, Inc. v. Ranger Insurance Co., 330 So. 2d 467 (Fla.1976), or where the question was decided by implication, Alford v. Summerlin, 423 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). See Valsecchi v. Proprietors Insurance Co., 502 So. 2d 1310 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987). Unlike Airvac, where in the prior trial proceedings a party’s contention was rejected and not raised in the prior appeal, here, neither the trial court nor this court [*988] ruled upon the issue of sovereign immunity. Additional…
  • NEW England Ins. Co. v. Int'l Bank OF Miami, N.A., 537 So. 2d 1025 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988)
    …(Fla. 1st DCA 1982) (matters implied in district court’s opinion become part of the law of the case). A subsequent presentation of proof regarding an issue already decided does not introduce a different issue. Cf. Valsecchi v. Proprietors Ins. Co., 502 So. 2d 1310 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987) (although issue framed differently on second appeal, as long as facts and parties upon which the first decision was based remain the same, the law of the case doctrine applies to preclude second appeal); Howell v. Howell, 207 So.…

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