RLS BUSINESS VENTURES, INC., AND RICHARD LEE SOTO, APPELLANTS,
v.
SECOND CHANCE WHOLESALE, INC., SECOND CHANCE FINANCE, INC., SEMINOLE FINANCE CORPORATION, AND MICHAEL G. KRIZMANICH, APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 2000-10-11
No. 2D99-940
CAMPBELL, A.C.J., and THREADGILL, J., Concur.
779 So. 2d 421 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2000) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 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

RLS Business Ventures and Richard Soto appealed a judgment arising from a dispute with Second Chance entities over a failed used car business partnership. The court affirmed the jury's rejection of RLS's usury claim but reversed an improper damages award against RLS and Soto because Second Chance failed to submit the claim to the jury.


Holding

The trial court properly instructed the jury on usury by rereading the agreed-upon instruction tracking the statutory language. Second Chance waived its damages claim by failing to request jury instructions or mention it in the motion for entry of judgment, requiring reversal of the $8,677 damages award against RLS and Soto. The Civil Remedies Act claim was properly disposed of as moot once the usury claim failed.


Headnotes

[1] A jury instruction that accurately tracks statutory language is not erroneous, even if the jury has questions about the meaning of terms within that language.

[2] A claim under the Civil Remedies for Criminal Practices Act is contingent upon the existence of predicate criminal activity.

Previewing 2 of 4 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

Key Quotes

“Section 687.03, Florida Statutes (1995), defines usury as "reserv[ing], charging] or tak[ing] for any loan, advance of money, line of credit, forbearance to enforce the collection of any sum of money or other obligation a rate of interest greater than the equivalent of 18 percent per annum simple interest...."”

Establishes the statutory definition of usury that governed the jury instruction at issue

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

RLS Business Ventures, led by Richard Soto, sold used cars to retail customers while Second Chance entities (owned by Michael Krizmanich) provided inv…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
NORTHCUTT, Judge.

NORTHCUTT, Judge.

The parties in this dispute were formerly involved in a used car business: RLS Business Ventures and its president Richard Soto sold cars to retail customers; Michael Krizmanich and his companies, Second Chance Wholesale, Second Chance Finance and Seminole Finance, provided cars to RLS and financing for the retail customers. These business dealings ultimately soured in late 1996. Second Chance Finance and Second Chance Wholesale brought suit against RLS and Soto to replevy cars on the RLS lot; RLS and Soto responded with counter-claims and filed third-party claims against Seminole and Krizmanich. All of the claims in the litigation were eventually resolved against RLS and Soto. They appeal, raising four issues for our consideration.1

RLS’s first issue concerns its only claim that was actually submitted to a jury, usury. Section 687.03, Florida Statutes (1995), defines usury as “reserv[ing], charging] or tak[ing] for any loan, advance of money, line of credit, forbearance to enforce the collection of any sum of money or other obligation a rate of interest greater than the equivalent of 18 percent per annum simple interest....” During deliberations, the jurors questioned the court about what might constitute a “loan” under the statute. In response, the judge reread the agreed-upon instruction defining usury, which tracked the statutory language. RLS seeks a new trial, claiming error in the judge’s response to the question. We disagree, and affirm.

Our affirmance on this issue disposes of another issue, RLS’s claim that the court erred in directing a verdict on its count against Second Chance based on the Civil Remedies for Criminal Practices Act, chapter 772, Florida Statutes, (1995). RLS asserted that Second Chance’s alleged usury was the “criminal activity” that triggered its rights under this chapter. See § 772.102(l)(a)10., Fla. Stat. (1995). The jury returned a verdict in favor of Second Chance on the usury claim. Without a “criminal activity,” RLS has no cause of action under this chapter. Because we have rejected the argument for a new trial on usury, this point on appeal is moot.

We agree with RLS’s and Soto’s next point, that the court erred in awarding Second Chance damages against them. Second Chance claimed that RLS owed approximately $8000 for the sale of two used automobiles. RLS asserted a set-off defense, which Second Chance denied. Yet Second Chance never proposed instructions on this claim, or asked that it be submitted to the jury. After trial, Second Chance moved for the entry of judgment, but did not mention this claim for damages. Its proposed final judgment, however, reflected an award of $8,677 against RLS and Soto. We hold that Second Chance waived its damages claim when it did not ask that it be submitted to the jury. See Vine v. Scarborough, 517 So. 2d 726 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987). We also note that all parties agreed that the award against Soto, individually, was improper for the additional reason that he was not named in the count. We reverse the damage award against RLS and Soto.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part.

CAMPBELL, A.C.J., and THREADGILL, J., Concur. . For brevity’s sake, in the rest of this opinion we will refer to RLS and Soto as “RLS” and all the appellees as "Second Chance,” unless it is necessary to single out a specific party.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • RLS Bus. Ventures, Inc. v. Second Chance Wholesale, Inc., 784 So. 2d 1194 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)
    …hat complicated by the fact that the circuit court directed a verdict in favor of Second Chance on this claim, and we affirmed that ruling in RLS’s appeal of the final judgment on the merits. RLS Bus. Ventures, Inc. v. Second Chance Wholesale, Inc., 779 So. 2d 421 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000) (“RLS I ”). Generally, defendants are entitled to attorney’s fees under section 772.104 when a verdict is directed in [*1196] their favor. Hartford Ins. Co. of the Midwest v. Miller, 681 So. 2d 801, 302 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996). In thi…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw