PRIME MANAGEMENT COMPANY, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
W & C ASSOCIATES, LTD., APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1989-07-11
No. 88-1972
Before HUBBART and FERGUSON and LEVY, JJ.
548 So. 2d 696 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1989) 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

Prime Management Company appeals a jury verdict on damages in a breach of fiduciary duty action following a retrial limited to damages. The court affirmed the judgment, rejecting Prime's arguments that the trial court erred in failing to direct a verdict and that plaintiff's counsel engaged in improper conduct.


Holding

The court held that the new trial order did not establish a law of the case requiring a directed verdict, as it only concluded damages were not established on the prior trial's evidence and did not prescribe how damages must be proven at retrial. The court also held that plaintiff's counsel's conduct, though possibly aggressive, did not rise to the level requiring a new trial, and that the costs awarded were properly assessed as they related to the liability issue on which plaintiff prevailed.


Headnotes

[1] A prior order granting a new trial on damages, affirmed on appeal, does not necessarily establish the law of the case for directed verdict purposes if the order contained…

[2] A new trial order stating that damages were not established at a prior trial does not mandate a specific method for proving damages at a subsequent trial.

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Key Quotes

“The new trial order, in our view, did not require that the damages be established in a certain way at the new trial. It only concluded that, on the evidence adduced at the prior trial, the plaintiff's damages were not established.”

Establishes that the new trial order did not constrain how damages could be proven at retrial, rejecting Prime's argument for a directed verdict based on the prior order.

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Facts & Procedural History

Prime Management Company and W & C Associates were parties to a dispute involving breach of fiduciary duty related to the purchase of three motels. Th…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal by the defendant Prime Management Co., Inc., from a final judgment entered upon an adverse jury verdict following a retrial on damages only in a breach of fiduciary duty action. Previously, a new trial order on damages had been entered below and affirmed on appeal by this court. Waltman v. Prime Motor Inns, 499 So. 2d 73 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986).

Initially, this order had stated no grounds for granting the new trial, and, for that reason, this court reversed the subject order; the Florida Supreme Court, however, reversed this determination and remanded with directions to allow the trial court to state its grounds for granting the new trial. Prime Motor Inns, Inc. v. Wattman, 480 So. 2d 88 (Fla.1985).

Upon remand, the trial court entered an order containing multiple grounds for the new trial, which order we affirmed on appeal. Wattman v. Prime Motor Inns, 499 So. 2d 73 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986).

For the reasons which follow, we again affirm.

First, the central contention raised by the defendant on appeal is that the trial court erred in failing to direct a verdict in its favor at trial, as allegedly required by the new trial order.

We disagree. The new trial order, in our view, did not require that the damages be established in a certain way at the new trial. It only concluded that, on the evidence adduced at the prior trial, the plaintiff’s damages were not established. At the new trial, the evidence adduced was somewhat different from that at the first trial as to elements of consideration for the purchase of the three motels in question-different enough, we think, for the jury to reach the verdict it did.

Moreover, there were multiple grounds given for the new trial, only one of which was the damages point; our affirmance, without opinion, of this order was not necessarily an approval of all the grounds contained therein, and, in any event, was, at best, a conclusion that the trial court had not abused its discretion in awarding a new trial on the damages point. This being so, the law of the case for directed verdict purposes was not, as urged, established by the new trial order. See State ex rel. Outrigger Club, Inc. v. Barkdull, 277 So. 2d 15, 16-17 (Fla.1973); Steele v. Pendarvis Chevrolet, Inc., 220 So. 2d 372, 374 (Fla.1969); Myers v. Atlantic Coast Line Ry., 112 So. 2d 263 (Fla.1959). Second, the remaining points raised by the defendant do not present reversible error and do not require extended discussion. In particular, the plaintiff counsel’s trial conduct, even if overly aggressive at times, did not rise to the level of such improper conduct as would require a new trial. See Sharp v. Lewis, 367 So. 2d 714, 715 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979); Walker v. City of Miami, 337 So. 2d 1002, 1004 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976); Metropolitan Dade County v. Dillon, 305 So. 2d 36, 40 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974), cert. denied, 317 So. 2d 442 (Fla.1975).

We also see no error in the trial court’s assessment of certain costs incurred by the plaintiff at the prior trial. Inasmuch as the plaintiff secured a verdict in its favor at that trial on the issue of liability and a new trial was awarded only on damages, we think the plaintiff was entitled to its taxable costs at the prior trial as they relate to the liability issue; the $1,083.03 in costs awarded at the prior trial appears reasonably related to that issue and we see no abuse of discretion in awarding such costs. See Otis Elevator Co. v. Bryan, 489 So. 2d 1189 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Thornburg v. Pursell, 476 So. 2d 323 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); Mack v. Garcia, 453 So. 2d 465 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984).

The final judgment under review is therefore in all respects

Affirmed.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Prime Motor Inns, Inc. v. Waltman, 562 So. 2d 725 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)
    …aals, Ltd, 523 So. 2d 800 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988); Phillips v. Ostrer, 481 So. 2d 1241 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), rev. denied, 492 So. 2d 1334 (Fla.1986). Appellant’s remaining point on appeal is without merit. See Prime Management Co. v. W & C Assocs., Ltd., 548 So. 2d 696 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989), rev. denied 560 So. 2d 234 (Fla.1990). Affirmed.…
  • Mercy Hosp., Inc. v. Kozak, 570 So. 2d 440 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)
    …PER CURIAM. Affirmed. Prime Management Company, Inc. v. W & C Associates, Ltd., 548 So. 2d 696 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989), review denied, 560 So. 2d 234 (Fla.1990); Botte v. Pomeroy, 497 So. 2d 1275 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986), review denied, 508 So. 2d 15 (Fla.1987); Stanley v. State, 357 So. 2d 1031 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 364 So. 2d 891 (Fla.1978); s…

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