HERNANDO COUNTY, FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
LEISURE HILLS, INC., APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1994-12-30
No. 93-2946
PETERSON and THOMPSON, JJ., concur., DAUKSCH, J., concurs in conclusion only, without opinion.
648 So. 2d 257 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1994) Caution
Cited by 22 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

Hernando County appealed a partial final judgment that determined Leisure Hills was entitled to have its plat recorded but reserved jurisdiction on damages. The court dismissed the appeal, holding that the partial judgment was not a final or non-final appealable order because the recordation and damages issues were inextricably intertwined and should be resolved together.


Holding

The partial final judgment is neither a final appealable order nor a non-final appealable order under Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure 9.030(b)(1)(A), 9.110, and 9.130(a)(3). The recordation and damages issues are inextricably intertwined and must be resolved together in a single appeal rather than allowing piecemeal appellate review.


Headnotes

[1] A partial final judgment that does not dispose of a separate and distinct cause of action unrelated to the remaining claim for damages is not a final appealable order.

[2] An order granting entitlement to a portion of sought relief, without granting that relief and while reserving jurisdiction for damages, is not an appealable non-final ord…

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Key Quotes

“Rule 9.130(a)(3)(C)(iv), authorizes the appeal of non-final orders which determine 'the' issue of liability, not 'an' issue of liability.”

Establishes that only orders determining the complete issue of liability are appealable, not orders addressing one of multiple intertwined liability issues.

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Facts & Procedural History

Leisure Hills filed an equitable estoppel action against Hernando County challenging the county's denial of its request to record a plat. Leisure Hill…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Hernando County appeals the entry of a partial final judgment in favor of Leisure Hills, Inc., a Florida corporation, (“Leisure Hills”) which determined that Leisure Hills is entitled to have its plat recorded by and through the Clerk of the Circuit Court.

However, the court reserved jurisdiction “to specifically order at some future time the clerk of this court to record the plat.” The court also reserved jurisdiction, by bifurcating the trial, to determine whether Leisure Hills was entitled to damages and, if so, the amount of damages.

The trial court never entered an order requiring the plat to be recorded. The partial final judgment is not a final appealable order. See Fla.R.App.P. 9.030(b)(1)(A) & 9.110. Further, we hold it is not a non-final order within the contemplation of Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130(a)(3).

Therefore, we dismiss the appeal.

Leisure Hills filed an equitable estoppel action challenging the Hernando County Commission’s denial of its request to record its plat. Leisure Hills sought two forms of relief: to require Hernando County to record the plat and to have the court determine if they were entitled to damages and, if so, the amount of damages.

The trial court entered a partial final judgment ruling that Leisure Hills is entitled to have its plat recorded but did not order the plat recorded. That does not, however, dispose of a separate and distinct cause of action unrelated to the remaining claim for damages. See Welch v. Resolution Trust Corp., 590 So. 2d 1098, 1099 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991) (an order granting final summary judgment as to one count of a multi-count complaint is not a final appealable order where a remaining count is interrelated with the count adjudicated).

Contrary to Hernando County’s assertion, the partial final judgment should not be construed as an appealable non-final order which determines the issue of liability in the ease pursuant to Rule 9.130(a)(3)(C)(iv).

Although the trial court’s partial final judgment determined that Leisure Hills is entitled to part of the relief it sought, i.e., Leisure Hills is entitled to have its plat recorded, the trial court has not yet determined that Leisure Hills is entitled to all the relief it seeks, specifically, the court has not yet addressed whether Leisure Hills is entitled to an award of damages. “Rule 9.130(a)(3)(C)(iv), authorizes the appeal of non-final orders which determine ‘the’ issue of liability, not ‘an’ issue of liability.” Winkelman v. Toll, 632 So. 2d 130,131 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994) (holding that an order which merely determines “entitlement” to attorney’s fees without determining the amount of such fees is not appealable as an order determining the issue of liability).

One issue of liability has been determined, but the intertwined second issue of liability, damages, still remains with the trial court.

The thrust of Rule 9.130 is to restrict the number of appealable non-final orders because review of non-final judgments wastes court resources and needlessly delays final judgment. Winkelman, 632 So .2d at 131 (quoting Travelers Ins. Co. v. Bruns, 443 So. 2d 959 (Fla.1984).

To allow this appeal from an order ruling that a party is entitled to a portion of the affirmative relief sought, without actually granting that relief, has the potential of generating an unnecessary number of appeals, even before a final judgment is entered. Such orders can be more efficiently reviewed at the conclusion of the trial court’s labor, particularly when the issues are inextricably intertwined. This prevents piecemeal appellate litigation. See Winkelman, 632 So. 2d at 131-32; S.L.T. Warehouse Co. v. Webb, 304 So. 2d 97 (Fla.1974).

We dismiss the appeal of the partial final judgment because the issue of the recordation of the plat and the issue of damages (which is still pending before the trial court) are so intertwined as to be inseparable. They should be disposed of in one appeal.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

PETERSON and THOMPSON, JJ., concur. DAUKSCH, J., concurs in conclusion only, without opinion.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Jones v. State, 78 So. 3d 706 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012)
    …dismissing a counterclaim was not an appealable final order because the counterclaim was substantively related to pending claims and the parties to the counterclaim remained involved in the proceedings below); Hernando County v. Leisure Hills, Inc., 648 So. 2d 257, 258 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994) (dismissing an appeal where the court issued a partial final judgment on the issue of whether the plaintiff was entitled to have its plat recorded but left unresolved the issue of whether the plaintiff was entitled to damage…
  • Sterile Prods. Corp. v. Jones, 702 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997)
    …liability. The appellate court explained that: Rule 9.130(a)(3)(C)(iv), authorizes the appeal of non-final orders which determine “the” issue of liability, not “an” issue of liability. 632 So. 2d at 131. In Hernando County v. Leisure Hills, Inc., 648 So. 2d 257 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994), this court quoted the passage from Winkelman approvingly in holding that a partial final judgment ruling that a landowner, Leisure Hills, was entitled to have its plat recorded but reserving jurisdiction to later order the plat…
  • …se into a collateral claim. Because the attorney fees and costs sought under the subcontract clause are no different than any other element of damages that might have been awardable, this appeal is premature. Hernando County v. Leisure Hills, Inc., 648 So. 2d 257, 258 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994) (“To allow this appeal from an order ruling that a party is entitled to a portion of the affirmative relief sought, without actually granting that relief, has the potential of generating an unnecessary number of appeals, eve…

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