JACK ALDRIDGE, APPELLANT,
v.
LIBERTY AIR, INC., A CORPORATION, AND REXAIR, INC., A CORPORATION, APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 1968-05-07
No. 67-219
Before PEARSON, BARKDULL and HENDRY, JJ.
210 So. 2d 279 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1968) Positive Treatment
Cited by 5 cases

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Synopsis

Jack Aldridge, who personally guaranteed aircraft lease obligations for a financially troubled lessee, appeals a judgment requiring him to pay over $314,000 in future lease rentals to Liberty Air and $6,700 to Rexair. The court affirmed the validity of the guarantee but reversed the award to Liberty Air as excessive because Florida law prohibits lessors from recovering future rents in advance of their accrual.


Holding

While the guarantee was valid and obligated Aldridge to pay rentals from January 13, 1965 until lease termination, Florida law prohibits recovery of rents not yet due. The judgment against Liberty Air for $314,292.66 (covering future rentals through July 1, 1969) was reversed as excessive, but the judgment against Rexair for $6,700 (representing accrued rentals only) was affirmed.


Key Quotes

“a lessor can not presently recover rents due at some future date under the lease agreement”

Establishes the controlling legal principle that future rents cannot be recovered in advance of their accrual.

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Facts & Procedural History

Aerovías Sud Americana, Inc. leased three DC-4 aircraft: two from Liberty Air (July 1, 1964) and one from Rexair (July 24, 1964), each for 60-month te…

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Opinion of the Court
HENDRY, Judge.

HENDRY, Judge.

This is an appeal from a final judgment in favor of the plaintiffs below, Liberty Air, Inc., and Rexair, Inc., who were lessors of certain aircraft and appurtenant equipment. Aerovías Sud Americana, Inc., was the lessee of three DC-4 aircraft under separate lease agreements. Two of the aircraft were leased from Liberty Air on July 1, 1964, for periods of sixty months each. The third aircraft was leased from Rexair on July 24, 1964, for the same length of time.

In January of 1965, Aerovías wa.s delinquent in rental payments because of financial difficulties. In order to assure the continued existence of the aircraft lease agreements, appellant herein, Jack Al-dridge, executed and delivered to the lessors his personal guarantee of certain of Aerovías’ obligations under the lease. When Aerovías became embroiled in corporate reorganization proceedings under Chapter XI of the Federal Bankruptcy Act, further action against Aerovías in the state court was restrained. Plaintiffs then proceeded against Aldridge alone on the basis of the personal guarantee.

The trial court in its decree of August 31, 1966, specifically found the guarantee to be a valid and binding agreement. In regard to a determination as to which obligations of Aerovias the guarantee encompassed within its scope, the court stated:

“With respect to paragraph 3 of the agreement, Court finds that Mr. Aldridge guaranteed the sums due the plaintiff Corporations for aircraft rentals ‘including that pro-rated portion per week of monthly rentals commencing with noon, January 13, 1965 — .’ The testimony reflects, and the Court so finds, that with respect to aircraft number N-88937, said aircraft was flown (between January 14 and April 2, 1965) 353 hours and 51 minutes for a total rental cost of $2,-118.00 plus the sum of $3,000.00 per month from January 13, 1965 to termination of the lease.”
******
“With respect to aircraft number N-90445, Mr. Aldridge is obligated under the terms of the guaranty, for the payment of the basic $3,000.00 per month *280charge from January 13, 1965 to the expiration of the lease. * * *”

On the basis of the findings contained in the decree, judgment was entered against Aldridge in favor of Liberty Air in the amount of $314,292.66 plus costs, and against Aldridge in favor of Rexair in the amount of $6,700.00 plus costs. Aldridge brings the instant appeal.

We have found no error in the findings of the lower court in regard to the validity, content, scope or effect of the guarantee agreement. However, we find that the amount awarded to Liberty Air was excessive.

The trial judge was correct m holding that the guarantee obligated Al-dridge to pay aircraft rental, in the event of default, from January 13, 1965, until termination of the lease period. The lease agreements covering aircraft numbers N-88937 and N-90445 will not expire until July 1, 1969. And it is settled in this state that. a lessor can not presently recover rents due at some future date under the lease agreement. In the case of Williams v. Aeroland Oil Co., 155 Fla. 114, 20 So.2d 346 (1944), the Florida Supreme Court expressed the principle thusly:

“* * * The repudiation by the lessee, even though accompanied by breach, did not at once mature the installments of rent not due under the terms of the lease so as to make them presently recoverable in an action on the covenant for the payment of rents as such. Since future rent is demandable only in the amounts and at the times named in the lease, the total cannot be recovered at law in a lump sum in advance of the accrual of the installments.”

See also: Monsalvatge & Co. of Miami, Inc. v. Ryder Leasing, Inc., Fla.App.1963, 151 So.2d 453.

We have found no such error in the amount awarded to Rexair, since the $6,-700.00 recovery represents accrued rental due on aircraft number N-30064 for the period from January 14 to January 31, 1965.

Therefore, the portion of the judgment appealed awarding the sum of $314,292.66 to appellee, Liberty Air, Inc., is reversed, and the cause is remanded for further proceedings on the issue of damages in case number 6SL 556.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Rashkin v. Pearce, 400 So. 2d 541 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981)
    …aw in a lump sum in advance of the accrual of the installments.” Williams v. Aeroland Oil Co., 155 Fla. 114, 20 So. 2d 346, 348 (1944). See also Hulley v. Cape Kennedy Leasing Corp., 376 So. 2d 884 (Fla. 5th DCA 1979); Aldridge v. Liberty Air, Inc., 210 So. 2d 279 (Fla.3d DCA 1968). We presume that the trial court was aware of this principle and applied it in the 1973 action. This being so, appellants’ present suit is limited to rents and other items which have accrued since the date of the institution of the…
  • First D.M.V., Inc. v. Amster, 545 So. 2d 936 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)
    …use in the lease. Williams v. Aeroland Oil Co., 155 Fla. 114, 20 So. 2d 346 (1944); Rashkin v. Pearce, 400 So. 2d 541 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981); Hulley v. Cape Kennedy Leasing Corporation, 376 So. 2d 884 (Fla. 5th DCA 1979); Aldridge v. Liberty Air, Inc., 210 So. 2d 279 (Fla. 3d DCA 1968). We also find no error in denying a set-off of the advanced rent against the damages awarded for breach of the lease. Upon a breach and a determination of a leasehold interest, any advance rent belongs to the lessor and is lost to…

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