DRAY
v.
DUFFNER SHENDELL
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A party who voluntarily executes a document is bound by its terms absent coercion, duress, fraud in the inducement, or other independent grounds for rescission.
[1] To sustain an action for rescission of a contract or trust, a party must allege grounds amounting to fraud, misrepresentation, overreaching, or undue influence.
[2] A unilateral mistake of material fact may serve as grounds for rescission only if the mistake was not the result of inexcusable lack of due care, denial of release would…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“A party who voluntarily executes a document . . . is bound by its terms in the absence of coercion, duress, fraud in the inducement or some other independent ground justifying rescission.”
Court explaining the standard for enforcing executed documents.
The now-deceased settlor sought rescission of an irrevocable trust he had executed. The undisputed record evidence established he was not subject to c…
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Opinion filed March 20, 2019. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing. ________________ No. 3D18-0723 Lower Tribunal No. 14-21638 ________________ S. Patrick Dray, etc., Appellant, vs. Tamar Duffner Shendell, etc., et al., Appellees. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Barbara Areces, Judge. Friedman & Frost, P.L. and Paul D. Friedman and Alexander A. Salinas, for appellant. Shendell & Associates, and Lawrence A. Shendell (Deerfield Beach); The Haralson Law Firm, P.A., and Paul Haralson, for appellees. Before FERNANDEZ, LINDSEY, and MILLER, JJ. MILLER, J.
As the undisputed record evidence presented below firmly established that the now-deceased settlor, who sought rescission of an irrevocable trust, was not subject to coercion, fraud, misrepresentation, overreaching, or undue influence in his execution of the trust documents, and the essential elements of unilateral mistake failed, the trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of appellees. See
Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Benton, 467 So. 2d 311, 312 (Fla.
5th DCA 1985) (“[A] party who voluntarily executes a document . . . is bound by its terms in the absence of coercion, duress, fraud in the inducement or some other independent ground justifying rescission.”); see also Duncan Props., Inc. v. Key
Largo Ocean View, Inc., 360 So. 2d 471, 472 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978) (“Generally, in order to sustain an action for rescission, one must allege grounds amounting to fraud,
misrepresentation, overreaching or undue influence.”) (citing Richard Bertram &
Co. v. Barrett, 155 So. 2d 409 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963)); DePrince v. Starboard Cruise
Servs., Inc., 43 Fla. L. Weekly D1734 (Fla. 3d DCA Aug. 1, 2018) (en banc) (“A contract may be set aside on the basis of unilateral mistake of material fact if: (1) the mistake was not the result of an inexcusable lack of due care; (2) denial of release from the contract would be inequitable; and (3) the other party to the contract has not so changed its position in reliance on the contract that rescission would be unconscionable.”). Affirmed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Dray v. Duffner Shendell, 271 So. 3d 140 (Fla. 3d DCA 2019)
Authorities Cited
- Merrill v. Lelia C. Benton, 467 So. 2d 311 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985)
- Richard Bertram & Co. v. Barrett, 155 So. 2d 409 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963)
- Duncan Props., Inc. v. KEY Largo Ocean View, Inc., 360 So. 2d 471 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)
- Deprince v. Starboard Cruise Servs., Inc., 271 So. 3d 11 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)
- Dray v. Duffner Shendell, 271 So. 3d 140 (Fla. 3d DCA 2019)