STUART SPORTFISHING, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
KEHOE, ET AL., APPELLEES
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Stuart Sportfishing, as new owner of marina property, sought to build a restaurant and raw bar but was prevented by a settlement agreement between the previous owners and neighboring residents that restricted use to light marine-related businesses. The court affirmed the trial court's injunction enforcing the settlement agreement, holding that restaurants and raw bars do not fall within the enumerated marine-related uses under the ejusdem generis rule of construction.
A restaurant and raw bar do not constitute light marine-related businesses as contemplated by the settlement agreement. The ejusdem generis rule of construction applies to limit the general phrase 'similar ones' to businesses of the same general kind as those specifically enumerated—accessory businesses reasonably necessary to serve boat owners using the marina.
[1] A settlement agreement limiting future use of property to specific enumerated businesses and "similar ones" will be interpreted using the rule of ejusdem generis.
[2] The rule of ejusdem generis dictates that general words following an enumeration of specific items are construed to apply only to items of the same kind or class as those…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“that where general words follow an enumeration of persons or things, by words of a particular and specific meaning, such general words are not to be construed in their widest extent, but are to be held as applying only to persons or things of the same general kind or class as those specifically mentioned.”
Definition of the ejusdem generis rule of construction applied to interpret the settlement agreement's restriction on future use
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceStuart Sportfishing became the new owner of marina property adjacent to the residential property of Kehoe and others. The previous owners had settled …
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POLEN, Judge.
Appellant, as new owner of marina property adjacent to appellees’ residential property, sought approval to build and operate a restaurant and raw bar on the site. Prior to this, appellees and the previous owners of appellant’s property had entered into a settlement agreement regarding current and future use of the marina property. The future use of the property was limited to “light marine related business such as marine electronics, sales of new and used boats, ships store, marine canvas, bait shop, and/or similar ones which would be permitted under the current zoning of the property.”
Appellees filed motions for enforcement of the settlement agreement in an attempt to prevent appellant from building the restaurant and raw bar. Appellant claimed the use was permitted under the current zoning code, and the settlement agreement was a restrictive covenant which should be strictly construed in favor of free use of the property consistent with current zoning requirements.
The trial court ordered appellant to discontinue its efforts to gain approval of the restaurant and raw bar plans. We affirm the trial court’s order and its interpretation of the settlement agreement. The trial court properly interpreted the paragraph limiting future use of the property to light marine-related businesses as excluding a restaurant and raw bar. Whether the document is viewed as a restrictive covenant or a contract, the rule of construction, ejus-dem generis, applies in interpreting the future use paragraph. Ejusdem generis provides
that where general words follow an enumeration of persons or things, by words of a particular and specific meaning, such general words are not to be construed in their widest extent, but are to be held as applying only to persons or things of the same general kind or class as those specifically mentioned.
Black’s Law Dictionary 464 (5th ed. 1979). See also Noble v. Kisker, 134 Fla. 233, 183 So. 836, 837 (1938) (in construction of laws, wills and other instruments, when certain things are enumerated, and then a phrase is used which might be construed to include other things, it is generally confined to things ejusdem generis).
A restaurant and raw bar are not light marine-related businesses as the phrase was intended and used by the parties to the settlement agreement. The businesses that are specifically enumerated are clearly usual and customary accessory businesses or services reasonably necessary to serve the needs of boat owners using the marina. A restaurant and raw bar do not fit into this intended use category. Accordingly, we affirm the order under review.
DOWNEY and LETTS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Riera v. Riera, 86 So. 3d 1163 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012)…& Get Well Ctr., Inc. v. Stirling Place, Inc., 916 So. 2d 991, 994 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005) (applying doctrine to limit the phrase "damages to the premises” to "similar physical damages to premises” and not lost rent); Stuart Sportfishing, Inc. v. Kehoe, 541 So. 2d 169, 170 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989) (finding restaurant and raw bar did not fit into "light marine related business such as marine electronics, sales of new and used boats, ships store, marine canvas, bait shop, and/or similar ones which would be permitted und…
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Arnold v. JLM Inv. Assocs. Ltd. P'ship, 762 So. 2d 993 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)…ning of the phrase “or any lawful business incident thereto” is not clear. What constitutes a business “incidental” to a marina is not subject to a single meaning as a matter of law. We distinguish our decision in Stuart Sportfishing Inc. v. Kehoe, 541 So. 2d 169 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), where the limiting provisions was: “light marine related business such as marine- electronics, sales of new and used boats, ships store, marine canvas, bait shop, and/or similar ones which would be permitted under the current z…
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Riviera-Fort Myers Master Ass'n, Inc. v. Florentine Dev. II, LLC (Fla. 2d DCA 2020)
Authorities Cited
- Noble v. Kisker, 134 Fla. 233 (Fla. 1938)