HENRY COLUMBUS BOWMAN AND JAMIE BOWMAN, HIS WIFE, APPELLANTS,
v.
ARTHUR B. DAVIES, III, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF DANIEL BOWMAN, DECEASED, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1991-10-04
No. 91-556
WIGGINTON and KAHN, JJ., concur.
586 So. 2d 1332 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1991) 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

The Bowmans appealed a summary judgment dismissing their claims to enforce an oral contract and impose a constructive trust over property allegedly promised to them by a deceased person. The court reversed, holding that the trial court improperly granted summary judgment based on the inadequacy of complaint allegations, which should have been resolved on a motion to dismiss, and that factual issues regarding possession, confidential relationship, and laches remained unresolved.


Holding

The court reversed the summary judgment. The court held that the sufficiency of complaint allegations must be determined on a motion to dismiss, not by summary judgment, and that since the Bowmans' allegations survived the motion to dismiss, summary judgment was premature. Factual issues regarding possession, confidential relationship, and laches remained unresolved and precluded summary judgment.


Headnotes

[1] The sufficiency of the allegations of a complaint should be determined on a motion to dismiss, not by summary judgment.

[2] A summary judgment is premature when no facts have been adduced or made part of the record to substantiate its findings.

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Key Quotes

“The sufficiency of the allegations of a complaint should be determined on a motion to dismiss, not by summary judgment.”

Establishes the fundamental principle that complaint adequacy is determined via motion to dismiss, not summary judgment, making the trial court's approach legally erroneous.

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Facts & Procedural History

The Bowmans sued the estate of Daniel Bowman to enforce an alleged oral contract and/or impose a constructive trust over property. The estate moved to…

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Opinion of the Court
SMITH, Judge.

SMITH, Judge.

The Bowmans appeal an order entering summary judgment in favor of Arthur B. Davies, III, as personal representative of the Estate of Daniel Bowman, deceased (estate) in their action to enforce an oral contract and/or impose a constructive trust. We reverse.

The estate sought to dismiss Counts I and II of the Bowmans’ Amendment to Second Amended Complaint on several grounds, among them, that appellants had not alleged possession of the property sufficient to overcome the statute of frauds defense, that the allegations of a confidential relationship were insufficient, and that the Bowmans were barred from recovering because 20 years had elapsed from the recording of the deeds conveying the lands to Daniel Bowman, the deceased. This latter ground was based upon section 95.231, Florida Statutes (1987). The trial court eventually denied the estate’s motion, relying, in part, upon Holland v. Hattaway, 438 So. 2d 456 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983) (section 95.231 is a curative statute not a traditional statute of limitations).

Later, without any significant discovery being accomplished in the case, a different trial judge entered summary judgment on Counts I and II of the complaint. Inexplicably, the judgment is based upon the inadequacy of the allegations of the complaint. In the judgment, the trial court recited that the Bowmans failed to demonstrate possession necessary to remove this action from the operation of the statute of frauds; that they did not have a confidential or fiduciary relationship with the decedent which would justify the imposition of a constructive trust; and that the action was barred by laches.1 With regard to the imposition of laches, the court relied upon Wadlington v. Edwards, 92 So. 2d 629 (Fla.1957) and Hallam v. Gladman, 132 So. 2d 198 (Fla. 2d DCA 1961), cases which were decided in part based upon section 95.23, the predecessor to section 95.231.

The sufficiency of the allegations of a complaint should be determined on a motion to dismiss, not by summary judgment. Scheuer v. Wille, 385 So. 2d 1076 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). The sufficiency of the allegations of the Amendment to Second Amended Complaint survived the estate’s motion to dismiss, and nothing has been added to the record to afford a basis for the trial court’s summary judgment.2 No facts were adduced below or were made a part of the record which substantiate the findings in the summary judgment.

The correctness of the trial court’s order denying the motion to dismiss, an unappealable interlocutory order, is not before us. Accordingly, issues of fact regarding possession, confidential relationship, and laches remain and the summary judgment was premature. See generally Baskin v. Griffith, 127 So. 2d 467 (Fla. 1st DCA 1961).

WIGGINTON and KAHN, JJ., concur. . The estate did not argue laches in its memorandum of law accompanying the motion for summary judgment.

. Even in cases where summary judgment is proper, if it appears that the unsuccessful party may have a cause of action if properly pled, the proper procedure is to grant the motion for summary judgment with leave to amend. See Sea Shore Motel Corp. v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., 233 So. 2d 651 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970), cert. denied, 238 So. 2d 425 (Fla.1970).


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Citator

Cited By

  • TSI Se., Inc. v. Royals, 588 So. 2d 309 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)
    …of facts or circumstances showing compliance with the law, and there is nothing in the record before us indicating the existence of circumstances which, if properly pled, might demonstrate the existence of a valid defense. Compare Bowman v. Davies, 586 So. 2d 1332, n. 2 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991) (summary judgment should be granted with leave to amend where it appears that unsuccessful party may have a cause of action). Accordingly, we find that the trial court correctly determined that there was no genuine issue o…
  • Moates v. Register, 588 So. 2d 40 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)
    …nd other matters before the court that appellant may have a cause of action if properly pleaded, the appellant should have been given the opportunity to amend his complaint. See Hart Properties v. Slack, 159 So. 2d 236 (Fla. 1963); Bowman v. Davies, 586 So. 2d 1332 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Allen v. Port Everglades Authority, 553 So. 2d 1341 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989).…

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