P. RICHARD WIRT, APPELLANT,
v.
CENTRAL LIFE ASSURANCE, COMPANY, ETC., APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1992-11-13
No. 91-03452
SCHOONOVER, A.C.J., and ROBERTS, SUSAN W., Associate Judge, concur.
613 So. 2d 478 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1992) 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

Wirt challenged the dismissal of his fraud and civil RICO claims against an insurance company and its agent. The Florida appellate court reversed, holding that fraudulent concealment can toll the statute of limitations and that the civil RICO provisions are not unconstitutionally vague.


Holding

The court held that fraudulent concealment can toll the statute of limitations when it places the injured party in ignorance of the right to sue, and that Wirt should not be charged with knowledge of fraudulent acts on the date he signed the policies as a matter of law. The court also held that Florida's civil RICO provisions are not unconstitutionally vague.


Headnotes

[1] A statute of limitations in fraud cases may be tolled when fraudulent concealment prevents the injured party from discovering their right to sue.

[2] In Florida, the four-year statute of limitations for fraud begins to run from the date the facts giving rise to the cause of action were discovered or should have been di…

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Key Quotes

“[QUOTE REDACTED — failed verbatim audit (paraphrase, not verbatim). See original_text for the text as originally displayed.]”

Establishes that the general duty to understand written documents does not apply uniformly in fraud cases

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Facts & Procedural History

In 1980 and 1981, Wirt purchased annuities from Central Life Insurance Company through agent Godfrey. Godfrey allegedly misrepresented the annuities a…

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Opinion of the Court
BLUE, Judge.

BLUE, Judge.

P. Richard Wirt (Wirt) challenges a dismissal with prejudice of his fifth amended complaint filed against Richard W. Godfrey (Godfrey) and Central Life Insurance Company (Central). The trial court found that counts based on fraud and misrepresentation were barred by the statute of limitations and that counts based on chapter 895, Florida Statutes (1985), were barred because the civil remedy RICO provisions were unconstitutionally vague. We do not agree.

In 1980 and 1981 Wirt purchased the annuities of a defined benefits and money purchase pension plan. Godfrey as an agent for Central, allegedly represented the sale as single premium annuities and told Wirt to ignore other bills received after the agreed upon payment was made. Wirt alleged in his complaint that he was unaware Godfrey’s representations were fraudulent until he received a letter from Central dated June 28, 1985. Wirt argued the statute of limitations should begin to run on this date, and not on the date he signed the policies. The trial court found that the 1980 and 1981 policies, which were made a part of the complaint, revealed as a matter of law that the statute of limitations had expired as to the counts based on fraud and misrepresentation.

Generally parties to a written instrument have a duty to learn and to understand the contents of that instrument before signing it. Onderko v. Advanced Auto Ins., 477 So. 2d 1026 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); Parham v. East Bay Raceway, 442 So. 2d 399 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). These cases, however, do not stand for the proposition that a party is presumed to know the contents of any document he or she signs in all circumstances regardless of the un derlying cause of action. Keller v. Reed, 603 So. 2d 717 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992). Fraudulent concealment can toll the running of a statute of limitations when the fraud perpetrated upon the injured party places him in ignorance of his right to sue. Nardone v. Reynolds, 333 So. 2d 25 (Fla.1976).

In cases of fraud, section 95.031(2), Florida Statutes (1989), commences the running of the four year statute of limitations from the time the facts giving rise to the-cause of action were discovered or should have been discovered through the exercise of due diligence. Korman v. Iglesias, 736 F.Supp. 261 (S.D.Fla.1990). Because the trial court in this case was required to accept the allegations of the complaint as true for purposes of the motion to dismiss, a questions remains concerning the date upon which Wirt knew or should have known of the fraud. In determining when the statute of limitations began to run, we cannot agree with the lower court that Wirt, as a matter of law, was charged with knowledge of the fraudulent acts, on the date he signed the policies. We hold the trial court erred by dismissing the complaint with prejudice.

We hold also that the trial court erred by ruling the civil RICO provisions of chapter 895, Florida Statutes (1985), are unconstitutionally vague. Central argues Justice Scalia’s criticism of the non-specific nature of the term “pattern of racketeering” in his concurring opinion to H.J. Inc., v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., 492 U.S. 229, 109 S.Ct. 2893, 106 L.Ed.2d 195 (1989), supports the lower court’s decision. Although this concurring opinion is persuasive, it does not provide authority for the lower court’s ruling.

We reverse the dismissal with prejudice of Wirt’s fifth amended complaint and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.

SCHOONOVER, A.C.J., and ROBERTS, SUSAN W., Associate Judge, concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Ruiz v. Fortune Ins. Co., 677 So. 2d 1336 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)
    …Symons v. State, Dep’t. of Banking & Finance, 490 So. 2d 1322 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)(recognizing that the unreasonable failure to obtain knowledge may result in “implied actual notice” in eyes of the court); cf., e.g., Wirt v. Central Life Assur. Co., 613 So. 2d 478 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992)(noting duty to read and understand contents of contract). Any lack of understanding of this written notice on the part of the Ruizes only placed a duty upon them to make further inquiry of their broker, agent and/or insurer.3 We…
  • Fla. Auto. Fin. Corp. v. Reyes, 710 So. 2d 216 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)
    …understand the contents of that instrument before signing it. See RLI Ins. Co. v. Collado, 678 So. 2d 1313 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996), review granted sub nom. Almerico v. RLI Ins. Co., 691 So. 2d 1079 (Fla.1997); see also Wirt v. Central Life Assurance Co., 613 So. 2d 478 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992); Keller v. Reed, 603 So. 2d 717 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992); Onderko v. Advanced Auto Ins., Inc., 477 So. 2d 1026 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). When two innocent parties, such as FAF and Reyes, are injured by a third, such as Schwag, either by negl…

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