CHARLES F. HAGENDORFER, APPELLANT,
v.
APPELQUIST & RIPLEY, INC., REALTORS, APPELLEE, V. A.M. REDD, JR. MONEY PURCHASE PENSION PLAN, DEFENDANT

Fla. 1st DCA | 1988-08-04
No. 87-1252
MILLS and SHIVERS, JJ., concur.
529 So. 2d 343 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1988) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 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

Hagendorfer appeals an order granting a real estate company's motion to interplead a sales commission disputed between him and a pension plan. The court held that interpleader was improper because the company failed to allege facts showing it faced double liability, as the pension plan's claim was contingent on a property closing that never occurred.


Holding

The court held that interpleader was improper because Appelquist & Ripley failed to allege facts establishing it faced double or multiple liability. Since the pension plan's claim was expressly contingent on a closing that did not occur, Redd had no legal claim against Appelquist & Ripley, and therefore no cause of action for interpleader existed.


Headnotes

[1] An interpleader action may be instigated when a plaintiff is or may be exposed to double or multiple liability.

[2] A party seeking interpleader must demonstrate a peril of double vexation; if only one defendant has a legal claim to the funds, interpleader is not appropriate.

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Key Quotes

“Not all dilemmas — and surely no imaginary ones — qualify as causes of action in interpleader.”

Establishes the standard that interpleader requires genuine multiple liability, not mere hypothetical conflicts

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Facts & Procedural History

Appelquist & Ripley held $5,176 in sales commissions owed to Hagendorfer, their former real estate agent. A.M. Redd, Jr. Money Purchase Pension Plan a…

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Opinion of the Court
WIGGINTON, Judge.

WIGGINTON, Judge.

Appellant appeals an order granting appellee Appelquist & Ripley, Inc.'s motion to dismiss his counterclaim and allowing appellee to interplead the sum of $5,176. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Appellee, Appelquist & Ripley, filed a “Complaint for Interpleader” alleging: Ap-pelquist & Ripley hold $5,176 which is due as a sales commission to appellant, who was employed by Appelquist & Ripley as a real estate agent; A.M. Redd, Jr. Money Purchase Pension Plan (Redd) [named in this cause as an appellee, but not taking part in this appeal] also claims the money by virtue of a December 1985 letter written by Appelquist & Ripley to Redd; the letter recognized that appellant owed Redd a sum of money pursuant to a promissory note; in the letter, Appelquist & Ripley informed Redd that it would issue Redd a check in the amount of that note immediately following the closing “on the +/ — acres purchased from Escambia Construction Company. ... It is further understood that this note will not exceed $10,000 and is contingent on the closing of subject sale.” The complaint further referred to a February 1987 letter written by Redd to Appel-quist & Ripley making demand for payment on the $10,000 note. Stating that it was unable to determine which party is entitled to payment of the $5,176, Appel-quist & Ripley sought to interplead those funds.

Appellant moved to dismiss the complaint for interpleader asserting that the December 1985 letter stated specifically that Appelquist & Ripley’s agreement to pay Redd was contingent upon the closing of the 27-acre tract; the complaint for interpleader does not allege that the closing ever occurred; if the closing did not occur, Redd has no claim against Appel-quist & Ripley and the action for inter-pleader cannot lie. The trial judge denied appellant’s motion to dismiss.

Rule 1.240, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, provides that an interpleader action may be instigated when “the plaintiff is or may be exposed to double or multiple liability.” In Treasure Cay, Ltd. v. General Mica Corporation, 489 So. 2d 867 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986), the Court recognized that: “Not all dilemmas — and surely no imaginary ones — qualify as causes of action in interpleader.” In that case, the court determined that the party seeking interpleader was not subject to the “peril of double vexation” since only one defendant named in the suit had legal claim to the money sought to be interpleaded. Similarly, in the instant case, appellee has not sufficiently shown that it has any legal obligation to Redd in regard to the $5,176 in issue. The only basis for such an obligation is the representation contained in the December 1985 letter.

However, without regard to whether that letter imposes a legal obligation upon Appelquist & Ripley, the complaint and the record are devoid of any indication that the condition precedent to that alleged obligation — the closing of the sale to which it refers — has occurred. In fact, the other pleadings in the record indicate that the closing did not occur.

Thus, since Appelquist & Ripley has failed to properly allege any liability on its part to more than one party (appellant) in regard to the $5,176, no cause of action for inter-pleader exists.

Therefore, the denial of appellant’s motion to dismiss the complaint for interpleader was error.

We find no error in the trial court’s dismissal of appellant’s counterclaim.

AFFIRMED in part and REVERSED in part.

MILLS and SHIVERS, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Zimmerman v. Cade Enters., Inc., 34 So. 3d 199 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010)
    …olute requirement remaining under rule 1.240 is that the stakeholder “is or may be exposed to double or multiple liability” for competing claims to a single fund. See 32 Fla. Jur. 2d Interpleader § 2 (2003); Hagendorfer v. Appelquist & Ripley, Inc., 529 So. 2d 343 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988); Newkirk Constr. Corp. v. Gulf County, 366 So. 2d 813(Fla. 1st DCA 1979). A party may not object to inter-pleader on the grounds that one of the remaining three common law requirements is not met. See, e.g., Motzkin v. Shearson L…
  • Errol Rainess v. In re Est. OF Keiko MacHida, 81 So. 3d 504 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012)
    …olute requirement remaining under rule 1.240 is that the stakeholder “is or may be exposed to double or multiple liability” for competing claims to a single fund. See 32 Fla. Jur.2d Interpleader § 2 (2003); Hagendorfer v. Ap-pelquist & Ripley, Inc., 529 So. 2d 343 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988); Newkirk Constr. Corp. v. Gulf Cnty., 366 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). A party may not object to interpleader on the grounds that one of the remaining three common law requirements is not met. See, e.g., Motzkin v. Shearson Le…

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