SASSER FUNERAL HOME, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
CHARLES K. MCCLELLAN AND BARBARA MCCLELLAN, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1993-12-10
No. 93-989
ZEHMER, C.J., and SHIVERS, Senior Judge, concur.
627 So. 2d 1304 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1993) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

Sasser Funeral Home appealed a partial temporary injunction order against former funeral home owners Charles and Barbara McClellan, who opened a competing business allegedly in violation of a non-competition clause. The court reversed and remanded, finding the key contractual term "within 25 miles" was ambiguous and required parol evidence regarding the parties' intent.


Holding

The court reversed, finding the contractual provision "within 25 miles of the city limits of Quincy" is ambiguous because it does not specify whether distance should be measured by road or by air. Because the term is ambiguous, parol evidence regarding the parties' intent must be admitted on remand. The court also found no grounds to review the trial court's denial of the injunction against the McClellan name since the trial court did not rule on that issue.


Headnotes

[1] A contractual provision prohibiting competition within a specified distance of a city's limits is ambiguous when the method of measurement (air vs. …

[2] A trial court errs by excluding parol evidence to interpret a contractual term when the court has erroneously concluded that the term is unambiguous.

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Key Quotes

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

Establishes the core holding that the distance measurement term is ambiguous and does not clearly specify whether measurement should be by road or air.

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Facts & Procedural History

The McClellans were part owners of Morgan-McClellan Funeral Home in Quincy, Florida. In September 1989, they sold their 100% interest to Guardian Chap…

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Opinion of the Court
DAVIS, Judge.

DAVIS, Judge.

Sasser Funeral Home, Inc. has appealed a non-final order granting in part and denying in part a temporary injunction. We reverse.

Charles and Barbara McClellan were part owners of the Morgan-McClellan Funeral Home in Quincy, Florida, for many years. In September 1989, the McClellans and the Morgans sold a 100% interest in the Morgan-McClellan Funeral Home to Guardian Chapels, Inc., a subsidiary of Service Corporation International (SCI). Included in the terms of that sale were five-year management contracts with both Charles McClellan and H.E. Morgan, Jr.; and ten-year agreements by all the sellers not to compete. The terms of the non-competition agreement require the McClellans not to participate in a competing business “within 25 miles of the city limits of Quincy, Florida.”

In January, 1992, Sasser, a competing Quincy funeral home operator, purchased the Morgan-McClellan funeral home, the goodwill, the tradename, the non-competition agreements and the management contract of Morgan, but not the contract of McClellan. In order to finalize the sale to Sasser, SCI, Florida, Inc., negotiated a cash settlement of the five-year management contract with McClellan.

McClellan has opened a new funeral home in Bristol, Florida. The new McClellan Funeral Home is less than 25 miles from the edge of the city limits of Quincy which is closest to Bristol as the crow flies, but more than 25 miles away from that point as one would drive along the existing roads. Notwithstanding the debate at the hearing on motion for temporary injunction over whether the contract should be interpreted as requiring the measurement of the twenty-five mile distance by road or by air, and from what point, the trial judge expressly found that the term “within 25 miles of the city limits of Quincy, Florida” was not ambiguous. The court interpreted the contract as a matter of law as requiring measurement along the existing roads which would be used by potential customers. We find that the contractual provision prohibiting competition “within 25 miles of the city limits of Quincy” is ambiguous. Since the trial court excluded parol evidence regarding the intent of the parties based upon its erroneous conclusion that this term was not ambiguous, we reverse and remand for a hearing on the intent of the parties to the contract regarding the meaning of this term.

Finally, appellant also urges this court to reverse the trial court’s denial of a temporary injunction against the use of the name McClellan. The trial court did not rule on this question. There are no grounds for an appeal without a ruling. See Fineman v. Greenberg, 575 So. 2d 1310, 1311 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991).

REVERSED and REMANDED.

ZEHMER, C.J., and SHIVERS, Senior Judge, concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Geiger v. Geiger, 632 So. 2d 693 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)
    …Apparently calculated as 3 months (May, June, July) x $280.00 = $840.00. . Apparently calculated as 5 months (March-July) x $325.00 per month = $1,625.00. . $1,600.00 + $1,625.00 + 230.77 = $3,455.77. . Cf. Sasser Funeral Home, Inc. v. McClellan, 627 So. 2d 1304 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993) (finding contract ambiguous and therefore reversing and remanding for hearing on intent of the parties in construction of contract); Grand Bay Hotel v. Guerra, 605 So. 2d 134, 137 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992) (where terras of a written ag…
  • …the agreement is therefore a question of fact. Accordingly, we remand this case to the JCC with instructions to adduce evidence from the parties to determine the intended scope of the settlement agreement. See Sasser Funeral Home, Inc. v. McClellan, 627 So. 2d 1304 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993) (where lower court found contract unambiguous, appellate court found it to be ambiguous and remanded for parol evidence regarding the intent of the parties). REVERSED AND REMANDED. BOOTH and WOLF, JJ., concur.…

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