DONNA JOHNSON, APPELLANT,
v.
EDWARD L. JOHNSON, APPELLEE
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Donna Johnson appealed a final judgment dissolving her marriage, raising duress and fraud claims in a motion to set aside. The court affirmed dismissal of her duress claim as a refiled motion constituting tactical error, but reversed and remanded dismissal of her fraud claim, finding the trial court improperly filled evidentiary gaps rather than simply requiring more particular pleading.
The trial court properly dismissed the duress claim as a tactical error and refiled motion barred by res judicata principles, but erred in dismissing the fraud claim without granting appellant an opportunity to amend her pleading with greater particularity or holding an evidentiary hearing on the merits.
[1] A party cannot relitigate a claim previously withdrawn and waived absent a showing that the withdrawal was induced by fraud or other grounds specified in Rule 1.540(b).
[2] A voluntary dismissal based on a party's tactical error does not empower a court to set aside a final judgment under Rule 1.540(b).
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Rule 1.540(b) does not empower a trial court to upset the finality of a judgment in cases where a voluntary dismissal is based upon a party's 'tactical error' and not upon 'grounds set out in the rule.'”
Establishes the legal standard that Rule 1.540(b) relief requires grounds specified in the rule, not mere tactical repositioning by a party.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellant Donna Johnson entered into a mediated marriage settlement agreement and a final judgment of dissolution based on that agreement. She initial…
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KAHN, J.
Appellant raises two grounds in her motion to set aside the final judgment of dissolution of marriage and settlement agreement filed pursuant to Rule 1.540(b), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure (1998), and Rule 12.540, Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure (1998). The first ground alleges that appellant entered into the mediated marriage settlement agreement upon which the final judgment is based under duress. The second ground alleges that appellee filed a fraudulent financial affidavit that concealed appellee’s income and corporate and personal bank accounts.
The trial court correctly dismissed appellant’s motion in so far as appellant relied upon the claim of duress.
The record reflects, and the trial court found, that prior to the entry of final judgment, appellant filed a motion with an identical claim of duress in an effort to set aside the mediation settlement agreement. Appellant later withdrew the motion and filed a waiver with the court which stated that appellant had no objections to the entry of final judgment upon the settlement agreement. By raising the same claim of duress again in her motion to set aside the final judgment, appellant simply refiled a motion she previously withdrew and waived on the record nearly a year earlier.
Rule 1.540(b) does not empower a trial court to upset the finality of a judgment in cases where a voluntary dismissal is based upon a party’s “tactical error” and not upon “grounds set out in the rule.” Miller v. Fortune Ins. Co., 484 So. 2d 1221, 1223-24 (Fla.1986).
Appellant has not argued that the withdrawal and waiver of her initial claim of duress was induced by additional fraud or any other reason contemplated in Rule 1.540. Appellant’s decision to withdraw the motion and refile the same claim a year later when she was more prepared to argue its merits was a tactical error. Were we to allow, on these facts, a repeat claim of duress, we would exceed the limits of Rule 1.540(b) relief, violate the doctrine of res judicata and upset the finality of the judgment. See Miller, 484 So. 2d at 1223-24.
Accordingly, we affirm this point on appeal.
Though the trial court correctly dismissed appellant’s motion upon the first ground, the trial court erred in dismissing appellant’s motion upon the second ground. It may have seemed judicially efficient for the trial court to find, based upon its knowledge of the case, that the corporate and individual accounts appellant referred to rather broadly in her motion were actually specific accounts appel-lee had already disclosed.
Nonetheless, appellant did not, in fact, specify in her motion which particular accounts she alleged appellee concealed. While appellant is required to plead fraud with such particularity as the circumstances may permit pursuant to Rule 1.120(b), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure (1998), failure to do so should not have resulted in the trial court filling in the gaps with potentially extraneous evidence and dismissing the motion with prejudice. Cf. Weaver v. Leon County Classroom Teachers Ass’n, 680 So. 2d 478, 481 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996) (holding that a court may not go beyond the four corners of a complaint in testing the legal sufficiency of the allegations); Fish v. Post of Amvets No. 85, 560 So. 2d 337, 339 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990) (‘Where a complaint is dismissed based on extraneous evidence leading the judge to believe that the plaintiff is not entitled to relief, the judge has reversibly erred.”).
If appellant pled fraud with sufficient particularity, she was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the merits. See Gostyla v. Gostyla, 708 So. 2d 674, 675 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (finding a motion to set aside final dissolution of marriage that sufficiently alleged intrinsic fraud entitled appellant to a hearing on the merits of the motion).
Accordingly, we reverse on this point and remand to the trial court to either grant appellant leave to amend her motion to allege fraud with greater particularity or hold an evidentiary hearing on the merits of the motion’s second ground.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART and REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
BARFIELD, C.J., and DAVIS, J., CONCUR.
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Marjon v. Lane, 995 So. 2d 1086 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008)…ach the merits of Mr. Marjon’s amended motion. But, where a party, such as Mr. Marjon, sufficiently pleads duress, coer [*1088] cion, or fraud in the inducement, he or she is entitled to a hearing on the merits of the motion. See Johnson v. Johnson, 738 So. 2d 508, 510 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999) (citing Gostyla v. Gostyla, 708 So. 2d 674, 675 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998)); see also Seal v. Brown, 801 So. 2d 993, 994-95 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001) (holding that when a moving party’s allegations sufficiently request relief under rule 1…
Authorities Cited
- Miller v. Fortune Ins. Co., 484 So. 2d 1221 (Fla. 1986)
- Weaver v. The Leon Cnty. Classroom Teachers Ass'n, 680 So. 2d 478 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)
- P.P. Fish and Irene Fish v. Post OF Amvets # 85, 560 So. 2d 337 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)
- Gostyla v. Gostyla, 708 So. 2d 674 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998)