JOHN SHEA AND FLORIDA HI-TECH MEDICAL SERVICES, INC., APPELLANTS/CROSS-APPELLEES,
v.
CENTRAL DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLEE/CROSS-APPELLANT, V. RISELDA GUTIERREZ, PEDRO GUTIERREZ, "RISI" GUTIERREZ, AND FERNANDO CALVO, APPELLEES

Fla. 5th DCA | 1989-11-22
No. 88-1864
DAUKSCH and GOSHORN, JJ., concur.
552 So. 2d 344 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1989) Caution
Cited by 42 cases

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Holding

The court held that the trial court erred in ordering the return of the injunction bond, as the defendants are entitled to seek damages for wrongful issuance.


Headnotes

[1] A plaintiff who obtains ex parte injunctive relief based solely on allegations in a complaint cannot shift the burden of proof to the defendant until an evidentiary basis…

[2] The dissolution of a temporary injunction on the merits constitutes an adjudication that it was wrongfully issued.

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Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiff obtained a temporary injunction without notice. Defendants moved to dissolve it. The trial court dissolved the injunction but ordered the re…

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Opinion of the Court
COWART, Judge.

COWART, Judge.

Appellee, Central Diagnostic Services, Inc., as plaintiff, obtained, without notice, a temporary injunction against appellants as defendants. The defendants moved to dissolve the temporary injunction and set their motion for hearing.

At the hearing, both sides argued that the other side had the burden of going forward with evidence.

The trial court ruled that although the plaintiff had, by the allegations in its verified complaint, made a prima facie case for the issuance of an injunction without notice, and although technically the hearing was on the defendants’ motion to dissolve, nevertheless, at the first evidentiary hearing with the defendants being present, the plaintiff had the burden of presenting sufficient evidence to sustain and maintain the temporary injunction. After the plaintiff presented several hours of testimony, the trial court ruled that the legal remedy for dollar damages was adequate and dissolved the temporary injunction.

However, the trial court also concluded that the bond filed by the plaintiff was to be returned to the plaintiff by the court clerk. The defendants appeal the direction to return the bond. The plaintiff cross-appeals the order dissolving the injunction claiming that the burden of proof at the hearing was on the defendants and also that the plaintiff was denied a full and fair opportunity to present its evidence at the hearing. The order dissolving the injunction is affirmed but the provision for the posted injunction bond to be returned to the plaintiff is stricken. The handwritten provision for the return of the bond was substituted for stricken typed language in a typed order that had read, before modification, that the court reserved jurisdiction for a future determination of the existence and extent of the defendants’ compensable damages and possible recourse to the bond.

Therefore, we assume that by ordering the return of the bond, the trial judge intended to deny the defendants the opportunity and right to seek recourse for any damages resulting from the issuance of the temporary injunction. This right should not be denied. See Lake Worth Broadcasting Corp. v. Hispanic Broadcasting, Inc., 495 So. 2d 1234 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). An aggrieved party is entitled to damages resulting from the wrongful issuance of an injunction. The dissolution of a temporary injunction upon the merits 1 constitutes an adjudication that it was wrongfully issued.2 National Surety Co. v. Willys-Overland, Inc., 103 Fla. 738, 138 So. 24 (1931).

Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.610(b) provides that no temporary injunction will be entered unless a bond is given conditioned for the payment of damages sustained by the enjoined party in the event it is later determined that the injunction was wrongfully obtained.

Section 60.-07, Florida Statutes, provides for the court granting the injunction to assess the defendant’s damages after the injunction is dissolved if no party has requested a jury trial on damages. The defendant must look to the injunction bond as the sole source of recovery of any damages resulting from the wrongful issuance of the injunction. See Parker Tampa Two v. Somerset Development Corp., 544 So. 2d 1018 (Fla.1989); Calder Race Course, Inc. v. Gaitan, 430 So. 2d 975 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). See also Collins v. Horten, 112 So. 2d 897 (Fla. 1st DCA 1959).

As to plaintiff’s cross-appeal, rule 1.610 does not in its present form specify who has the burden of initially going forward on a motion to dissolve or modify a temporary injunction obtained without notice. A plaintiff who has obtained ex parte relief based simply on allegations in its complaint cannot shift the burden to the defendant until it has established an evidentiary basis to support such relief. See DeLisi v. Smith, 401 So. 2d 925 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981).

The trial court correctly placed the burden on the plaintiff to go forward with evidence sufficient to sustain the ex parte grant of temporary injunctive relief. A lengthy evidentiary hearing was held and while the plaintiff claims it was cut off in its presentation of evidence, the plaintiff does not suggest any additional witnesses or evidence that it would have presented.

AFFIRMED as modified.

DAUKSCH and GOSHORN, JJ., concur. . For example, a dissolution of an injunction that may occur procedurally by implication as the result of a dismissal of the complaint for failure to state a cause of action is not a dissolution of the injunction on the merits. See, e.g., Oakwood Manor, Inc. v. Eck, 358 So. 2d 585 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978); Rice v. White, 147 So. 2d 204 (Fla. 1st DCA 1962).

. After a temporary injunction is issued, the result is one of three alternatives. (1) If the plaintiff, after final hearing, establishes a case for injunction, the temporary injunction is made permanent. (2) If the plaintiff fails to establish a proper case for injunction then, of course, the temporary injunction should not have issued. (3) If for some intervening event not related to the merits of the asserted cause of action {i.e., a hurricane blows over the oak tree the plaintiff sought an injunction to prevent the defendant from cutting), the cause may be dismissed as moot or otherwise but there is no need to adjudicate that the temporary injunction was improperly issued or to dissolve it.


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Citator

Cited By (21 total)

  • Christine Thomas, M.D. v. Osler Med., Inc., 963 So. 2d 896 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007)
    …the motion is held, “the party who obtained the injunction bears the burden of going forward with evidence to establish a prima facie case to support the injunctive relief,” Hunter, 693 So. 2d at 616; see also Shea v. Cent. Diagnostic Servs., Inc., 552 So. 2d 344 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989), and the appellate court may review the factual basis for the injunction. Montville. If the enjoined party takes a direct appeal after notice and a hearing without moving to dissolve, an appellate court may consider the underlyi…
  • …ability is usually established simply upon proof that the injunction was vacated. Parker Tampa Two, 544 So. 2d at 1021; National Sur. Co. v. Willys-Overland, Inc., 103 Fla. 738, 138 So. 24 (Fla.1931); Shea v. Central Diag [*744] nostic Servs., Inc., 552 So. 2d 344, 346 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989). Fault and culpability are not issues essential to recovery under the terms of the typical bond. In the absence of a bond, as in this case, or when a party seeks to recover damages beyond the amount of the bond, the party m…
  • City OF Ormond Beach v. City OF Daytona Beach, 794 So. 2d 660 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)
    …injunction has been issued without notice, the plaintiff must demonstrate entitlement to the injunction when a motion to dissolve it has been made. See Fee v. Usler, 761 So. 2d 361, 364 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000); Shea v. Central Diagnostic Services, Inc., 552 So. 2d 344, 346 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989). One who has obtained ex parte relief cannot shift the burden to the defendant until it has first established an evidentiary basis to support the injunction. Fee; Shea. In this situation, the burden of proof is on the plaint…

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