AMERICAN COASTAL INSURANCE COMPANY
v.
MARINA ISLES CLUB CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC.

Fla. 5th DCA | 2022-05-13
No. 21-1221
Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2022)

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.


Holding

An attorney who appears by filing the client's first pleading is entitled to service of subsequent orders, and the trial court abused its discretion in failing to set aside an order when it failed to serve such an attorney.


Headnotes

[1] An attorney who appears in a proceeding by filing the client's first pleading is entitled to service of all subsequent court orders, and the trial court abuses its discre…

Previewing 1 of 1 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

“An attorney may appear in a proceeding . . . by serving and filing, on behalf of a party, the party's first pleading or paper in the proceeding.”

Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.505(e)(1) establishing the means by which counsel may appear in a proceeding

Facts & Procedural History

American Coastal Insurance Company sought to compel completion of an appraisal in a dispute with Marina Isles Club Condominium Association. The trial …

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

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FIFTH DISTRICT NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED AMERICAN COASTAL INSURANCE COMPANY,

Appellant,

v. Case No. 5D21-1221 LT Case No. 05-2020-CA-037089-X CORRECTED MARINA ISLES CLUB CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., Appellee. ________________________________/ Opinion filed May 13, 2022 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Brevard County, Curt Jacobus, Judge. Ezequiel Lugo, of Banker Lopez Gassler, P.A., Tampa, and Eleanor Sills, of Banker Lopez Gassler, P.A., Tallahassee, for Appellant. George A. Vaka and Nancy A. Lauten, of Vaka Law Group, P.L., Tampa, for Appellee. WALLIS, J.

American Coastal Insurance Company (American Coastal) appeals the trial court's order denying its Petition to Compel Completion of Appraisal and the order denying its Motion to Set Aside that order. We agree with American Coastal with respect to the order denying the Motion to Set Aside and reverse that order.1 In its Motion to Set Aside, American Coastal argued that the trial court failed to serve all of its attorneys of record with a copy of the order denying the Petition to Compel Completion of Appraisal and, therefore, it was unable to timely move for rehearing or appeal that order. In support of its motion, American Coastal attached a sworn affidavit signed by Attorney Kaps stating that: he was not served with a copy of the order, he filed the Petition on behalf of American Coastal, he was legal counsel for American Coastal, and that his name and email address were listed on the signature block of the Petition to Compel Completion of Appraisal along with two other attorneys representing American Coastal. The affidavit also stated that Attorney Kaps appeared at the hearing on the Petition and presented arguments on behalf of American Coastal.

Footnotes
1 Because we reverse the order denying the Motion to Set Aside, we do not address the arguments raised with regard to the order denying the Petition to Compel Completion of Appraisal. "An attorney may appear in a proceeding . . . by serving and filing, on behalf of a party, the party's first pleading or paper in the proceeding." Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.505(e)(1) (2020); Paul v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 68 So. 3d 979, 983 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). Thus, we hold that the court abused its discretion in failing to set aside the order denying the Petition after it failed to serve Attorney Kaps with a copy of that order after he had appeared in the case. See Paul, 68 So. 3d at 983. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for the trial court to reenter the order so that American Coastal has the opportunity to file a timely motion for rehearing. REVERSED and REMANDED with Instructions. SASSO and WOZNIAK, JJ., concur.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw