MARSHALL DIORIO A/K/A MARSHALL FOSTER AND SHEILA HAUSER, APPELLANTS,
v.
KATHLEEN A. GRANGER, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF HERMAN DIORIO, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 2006-11-22
No. 1D06-0230
WOLF, LEWIS, and THOMAS, JJ., concur.
942 So. 2d 951 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2006)

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

Appellants challenged a default judgment entered against them in an estate dispute, arguing they had filed a pro se response and that damages and attorney's fees were awarded without an evidentiary hearing. The court affirmed the default judgment on liability but reversed and remanded on damages and attorney's fees, finding an evidentiary hearing was required for unliquidated damages.


Holding

The court affirmed the default judgment on liability but reversed the award of unliquidated damages and attorney's fees, holding that although a default judgment can establish liability, a trial with proper notice is necessary to establish unliquidated damages and reasonable attorney's fees.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court's order denying a motion for relief from judgment is affirmed without further discussion when no error is found.

[2] A default final judgment may be entered when a party fails to file a legally sufficient response to a complaint.

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

“although a default judgment can be entered to establish liability, a trial with proper notice is necessary to establish unliquidated damages”

Establishes the key principle that default judgments cannot summarily award unliquidated damages without a hearing

Previewing 1 of 2 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Marshall Diorio a/k/a Marshall Foster and Sheila Hauser were sued by Kathleen A. Granger, the personal representative of the estate of Herman Diorio. …

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
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellants, Marshall Diorio a/k/a Marshall Foster and Sheila Hauser, seek review of the trial court’s Default Final Judgment and order denying their Motion for Relief from Judgment.

We affirm the order denying appellants’ motion without further discussion.

With respect to the Default Final Judgment, appellants contend that the trial court erred in entering it because they filed a pro se written response to the complaint filed by appellee, Kathleen A. Granger, the personal representative of the estate of Herman Diorio, and, alternatively, that the trial court erred in awarding appellee unliquidated damages and attorney’s fees without holding an evidentiary hearing.

We reject appellants’ argument that the trial court erred in entering the Default Final Judgment but agree that the court should have held an evidentiary hearing on the issue of damages and attorney’s fees. See Szucs v. Qualico Dev., Inc., 893 So. 2d 708, 711 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (holding that the appellant was entitled to a trial on the issue of damages because the damages were unliquidated); Williams v. Direct Dispensing, Inc., 630 So. 2d 1195, 1196 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994) (noting that although a default judgment can be entered to establish liability, a trial with proper notice is necessary to establish unliquidated damages); see also Roggemann v. Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Co., 670 So. 2d 1073, 1075 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996) (explaining that reasonable attorney’s fees constitute an unliquidated item of damages).

Accordingly, the Default Final Judgment is AFFIRMED as to liability but REVERSED as to damages and attorney’s fees and the case REMANDED for further proceedings.

WOLF, LEWIS, and THOMAS, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw