BRICKELL BISCAYNE CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
WPL ASSOCIATES, INC.; FRANYIE ENGINEERING, INC.; WILLIAM DORSKY & ASSOCIATES, INC.; PFE ENGINEERS, INC., APPELLEES
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The court held that the developer could not bring claims for common law indemnity or equitable subrogation against subconsultants who were not parties to the original action and with whom the developer had no legal relationship.
[1] Common law indemnity requires a legal relationship between the party seeking indemnity and the party against whom indemnity is sought, and that the party seeking indemnit…
[2] A claim for common law indemnity is not stated when the party seeking indemnity had no legal relationship with the alleged wrongdoers and did not have a duty to pay for t…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBrickell Biscayne, the developer, settled a lawsuit with a condominium association for construction defects and obtained an assignment of the associat…
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PER CURIAM.
Brickell Biscayne Corporation appeals from an order dismissing its complaint for common law indemnity and equitable subrogation. We affirm.
In 1986, the Palace Condominium Association filed suit against Brickell Biscayne Corporation, the developer of the project; Morse/Diesel, Inc., the construction manager; and Arquitectónica International Corporation, the architectural firm that had designed the project. The complaint alleged claims for breach of statutory warranties, breach of common law warranties, violation of building codes, and negligence. In early 1989, Bric-kell Biscayne entered into a settlement with the condominium association for $3,000,-000.00. Pursuant to that settlement, Brickell obtained an assignment of the condominium association’s rights. The assignment provided as follows:
[The Condominium Association] hereby assigns to Brickell Biscayne Corporation any and all claims or causes of action which the association has, as of the date hereof, and which were asserted in the certain litigation styled The Palace Condominium Association, Inc. v. Brickell Biscayne, et al., Case No. 86-34400.
One year later, Brickell filed an action against many parties, some of whom had not been parties to the original action. After many motions to dismiss, what remained was Brickell’s Fifth Amended Complaint. This appeal concerns the dismissal of that Fifth Amended Complaint against subconsultants who were not parties to the original action: WPL Associates, Inc.; Franyie Engineering, Inc.; William Dorsky & Associates, Inc.; and PFE Engineers, Inc. The causes of action against these subconsultants were for common law indemnity and equitable subrogation.
The trial court properly dismissed plaintiffs claim for common law indemnification. “Indemnity is a right which inures to one who discharges a duty owed by him, but which, as between himself and another, should have been discharged by the other and is allowable only where the whole fault is in the one against whom indemnity is sought.” Houdaille Indus., Inc. v. Edwards, 374 So. 2d 490 (Fla.1979). Furthermore, “[i]ndemnification rights derive from the relationship between a party ... and the party causing the injury. Given the requisite relationship, and assuming that the party seeking indemnification was not at all responsible for the injury, the injuring party becomes liable to the payor.” Cleary Bros. Constr. v. Upper Keys Constr., 526 So. 2d 116, 117 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988) (quoting Allstate Ins. v. Metropolitan Dade County, 436 So. 2d 976, 978 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), rev. denied, 447 So. 2d 885 (Fla.1984)), rev. denied, 534 So. 2d 402 (Fla.1988).
The elements necessary to state a claim for indemnification are not present in this case. Brickell Biscayne had no legal relationship with any of the three subconsultants named as defendants in this action, and Bric-kell Biscayne had no duty to pay the Palace Condominium Association for any of the sub-consultants’ acts. Although Brickell Biscayne had a contractual relationship with the architectural firm, Arquitectónica, it did not have a contractual relationship with the sub-consultants that Arquitectónica hired. More over, the assignment of claims from the condominium association to Brickell Biscayne assigned “... any and all claims or causes of action which the association has, as of the date hereof, and which were asserted in the certain litigation styled The Palace Condominium Association, Inc., v. Brickell Biscayne, et al., Case No. 86-34400” (emphasis added). In that litigation, the subconsultants were neither defendants nor third party defendants; they were not parties to the action in any capacity.
Likewise, the Fifth Amended Complaint failed to state a claim for equitable subrogation.
“Equitable” subrogation is a creature of equity which was developed to afford relief “when one person has satisfied the obligations of another and equity compels that the person discharging the debt stand in the shoes of the person whose claim has been discharged, thereby succeeding to the rights and priorities of the original creditor.” The policy behind the doctrine is to prevent unjust enrichment by assuring that the person who in equity and good conscience is responsible for the debt is ultimately answerable for its discharge.
Kala Invs., Inc. v. Sklar, 538 So. 2d 909, 917 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 551 So. 2d 461 (Fla.1989) (citations omitted). When Brickell Biscayne, the developer, settled with the condominium association and obtained the assignment of rights, the developer acquired whatever rights the association had against the other defendants in the original action. Because none of the subconsultants was a party in any capacity to that original action that Brickell Biscayne settled, Brickell Biscayne cannot state a claim for equitable sub-rogation against those subconsultants. Compare Kala Invs., 538 So. 2d 909, 919 n. 8 (owner of apartment building who had settled with plaintiffs could seek recovery against its codefendants in that action under theory of equitable subrogation; owner sought reimbursement from codefendants of funds it paid to plaintiffs “because it was the co-defendants, not [owner], who were actually responsible for the plaintiffs’ injuries.”).
We find no merit in the remaining arguments on appeal.
AFFIRMED.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Brickell Biscayne Corp. v. Morse/Diesel, 683 So. 2d 168 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)…ectónica Int’l Corp., the architect of the project, and Morse/Diesel, Inc., which was hired to supervise the construction. We affirm in part and reverse in part. The underlying facts of the case are stated in Briekell Biscayne Corp. v. WPL Assocs., 671 So. 2d 247, 248 (Fla. 3d DCA1996): In 1986, the Palace Condominium Association filed suit against Briekell Biscayne Corporation, the developer of the project; Morse/Diesel, Inc., the construction manager; and Arquitectónica International Corporation, the arch…
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ICA Constr. Corp. v. Frederick R. Harris, Inc., 701 So. 2d 113 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)…tter of law because the contractual indemnification provisions were sufficient only to indemnify the third-party plaintiffs for any vicarious liability that they would suffer as a result of ICA’s actions. Brickell Biscayne Corp. v. WPL Assoc., Inc., 671 So. 2d 247 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996). See also Cleary Bros. Constr. v. Upper Keys Marine Constr., 526 So. 2d 116 (Fla.App. 3d DCA 1988), rev. denied, 534 So. 2d 402 (Fla.1988); Allstate Ins. v. Metropolitan Dade County, 436 So. 2d 976 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), rev. denied,…
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Ramon Pacheco & Assoc., Inc. v. Betancourt Castellon Assoc., Inc., 820 So. 2d 948 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)…’s argument must fail, however, since an indemnity claim requires a legal relationship with the third-party defendant. See Brickell Biscayne Corp. v. Morse/Diesel, Inc., 683 So. 2d 168 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996); Brickell Biscayne Corp. v. WPL Assoc., Inc., 671 So. 2d 247 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)(Florida courts have consistently premised the allowance of indemnity upon a special relationship between the primary defendant and the third-party defendant); see also Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Co. v. Smith, 359 So. 2d 427 (Fla…
Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Houdaille Indus., Inc. v. Edwards, 374 So. 2d 490 (Fla. 1979)
- Allstate Ins. Co. v. Metro. Dade Cnty., 436 So. 2d 976 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)
- Wellinghoff v. Ray Lopez, M.D., 538 So. 2d 909 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)
- Kala Invs., Inc. v. Sklar, 538 So. 2d 909 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)
- Cleary Bros. Constr. Co. v. Upper Keys Marine Constr., Inc., 526 So. 2d 116 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988)