RUTH WEST BRINKERHOFF, APPELLANT,
v.
O.B. LINKOUS, ETC., ET AL., APPELLEES
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.
Ruth Brinkerhoff appealed a summary judgment in favor of real estate brokers O.B. Linkous and O.B. Linkous, Inc., in a breach of contract action regarding a motel purchase. The court reversed, holding that damages from code violations could potentially be established without expert testimony on damages, despite exclusion of the expert witness.
Summary judgment was reversed. Although the plaintiff was properly barred from presenting expert testimony on damages for failing to comply with discovery deadlines, she could potentially establish damages through the expert testimony regarding code violations and her own testimony regarding repair expenditures, precluding judgment as a matter of law.
[1] A contract provision making the sale contingent upon the building meeting all city codes creates a condition precedent to the buyer's obligation.
[2] A party barred from presenting expert testimony on damages may still present other evidence to establish damages, such as personal testimony regarding expenditures for re…
Previewing 2 of 4 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“In actions for breach of contract, any evidence which has a reasonable tendency to prove or to disprove the fact of the breach, that the damages claimed to have resulted therefrom were the direct and immediate results of the breach, and that such damages could fairly and reasonably be considered as arising naturally from such breach or were such as may reasonably be supposed to have been in the contemplation of the parties at the time they made the contract, as a probable result of the breach, is admissible.”
Establishes the legal standard for admissibility of damages evidence in breach of contract cases
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn 1981, Mrs. Brinkerhoff purchased a motel in Daytona Beach under a contract contingent upon the building meeting all city codes. In 1984, she sued t…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Expert Testimony Requirement cases and more on FLexlaw
DANIEL, Judge.
Ruth Brinkerhoff appeals a summary final judgment in favor of real estate brokers O.B. Linkous and O.B. Linkous, Inc., in an action for breach of contract. We reverse.
The record reflects that in 1981, Mrs. Brinkerhoff purchased a motel in Daytona Beach. The contract for sale and purchase contained a special clause stating that the contract was contingent upon the building meeting all city codes.
In 1984, Mrs. Brinkerhoff filed suit against the sellers and broker for damages, essentially alleging that the motel did not conform to the city codes as required by the contract. During discovery, Mrs. Brinkerhoff represented that she did not have personal knowledge of specific code violations and would defer to an expert in this matter. Mrs. Brinkerhoff later obtained the services of a building inspector who testified to various code violations but he was not qualified to testify to the costs of repairs for those code violations. Mrs. Brinkerhoff, however, submitted a list of her expenditures for corrective measures taken or required to be taken with regard to the motel.
The case was scheduled for trial and continued on several occasions. On July 29, 1986, the trial court entered an order granting a stipulated motion for continuance and rescheduled the trial for the week of November 3, 1986. The order provided that Mrs. Brinkerhoff would have until August 30, 1986, to obtain an expert witness regarding damages and to have an expert report regarding such damages prepared and forwarded to counsel for the defendants. It was further ordered that such witness be available for deposition by the defendants on or before September 15, 1986. The court stated that if Mrs. Brink-erhoff did not comply with the order, she would not be entitled to present expert testimony regarding damages in this matter. Linkous later moved to strike Mrs. Brinkerhoff s expert witness for failure to comply with the court’s order. The court granted the motion and ordered that Mrs. Brinkerhoff was not entitled to present any expert testimony on the issue of damages. We find no abuse of discretion in this action. See Johnson v. Allstate Insurance Company, 410 So. 2d 978 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982).
Linkous then moved for the entry of summary judgment arguing in part that Mrs. Brinkerhoff will be unable to prove any damages because she cannot provide an expert at trial and accordingly she has no claim. The court granted the motion and entered summary judgment against Mrs. Brinkerhoff.
In actions for breach of contract, any evidence which has a reasonable tendency to prove or to disprove the fact of the breach, that the damages claimed to have resulted therefrom were the direct and immediate results of the breach, and that such damages could fairly and reasonably be considered as arising naturally from such breach or were such as may reasonably be supposed to have been in the contemplation of the parties at the time they made the contract, as a probable result of the breach, is admissible. 17 Fla.Jur.2d, § 131 Damages (1980). Linkous has cited no authority for the proposition that damages resulting from code violations in situations such as this can be established only by expert testimony. Although Mrs. Brinkerhoff is barred from submitting expert testimony on the issue of damages, she has the testimony of her expert concerning the existence of code violations and her own testimony regarding expenditures for repairs to the motel. Thus Mrs. Brink-erhoff may be able to establish damages resulting from the code violations. In these circumstances, Linkous is not entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings.
COBB and COWART, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Fla. Power & Light Co. v. Kennedy, 549 So. 2d 247 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989)…pe of testimony from one of its experts as a sanction for a discovery violation. After carefully reviewing the record, we find no abuse of discretion in either ruling. See generally Mercer v. Raine, 443 So. 2d 944 (Fla.1983); Brinkerhoff v. Linkous, 528 So. 2d 1318 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988); Shaffer v. Ward, 510 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987). Judgment AFFIRMED. DAUKSCH and COWART, JJ., concur.…
-
Bill Kasper Constr. Co., Inc. v. Morrison, 93 So. 3d 1061 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012)…have affected the result of the trial. Indeed, we have routinely reviewed a trial court’s decision to strike an expert witness when considering cases on direct appeal. See Cooper v. Lewis, 719 So. 2d 944 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998); Brinkerhojf v. Linkous, 528 So. 2d 1318 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988). As such, we recede from Premark, Heathrow, and Travelers [*1063] to the extent that they are inconsistent with this opinion. PETITION DENIED. GRIFFIN, SAWAYA, PALMER, MONACO, TORPY, LAWSON, EVANDER, COHEN and JACOBUS, JJ., con…
Authorities Cited
- Johnson v. Allstate Ins. Co., 410 So. 2d 978 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982)