E. Z. E., INC., ET AL., APPELLANTS,
v.
LITTLE RIVER BANK & TRUST COMPANY, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1974-08-30
No. 73-1043
WALDEN and MAGER, JJ., concur.
300 So. 2d 43 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1974) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 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

The court affirmed a default judgment against defendant corporations in a creditor's suit, finding that the defendants repeatedly violated discovery orders and court-ordered deadlines despite their own stipulation to comply. The court reversed only on the issue of whether the court-appointed receiver must post a bond.


Holding

The default judgment was properly entered because the defendants violated both the court's April 23 order and their own stipulation by failing to timely and fully answer the interrogatories. The only error was the appointment of a receiver without requiring a bond, which must be corrected on remand.


Headnotes

[1] A party's failure to comply with a court's order to answer interrogatories, even after obtaining extensions and stipulating to a default, warrants the striking of their a…

[2] Incomplete answers to interrogatories, admitted as such by counsel, are to be treated as no answer under the rules of civil procedure.

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Key Quotes

“Thus, it seems clear that the appellants failed to act in accordance with their stipulation — they did not comply with the court's order of April 23, 1973.”

Establishes that the defendants violated both their own agreement and the court order, justifying sanctions.

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Facts & Procedural History

Little River Bank & Trust Company filed a creditor's suit against J. W. Dickson, his wife, and four defendant corporations allegedly operating as Dick…

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Opinion of the Court
DOWNEY, Judge.

DOWNEY, Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellee, Little River Bank & Trust Company, filed a creditor’s suit and petition to marshal assets against two individual defendants (J. W. Dickson and his wife), and against the four defendant-appellant corporations, which were alleged to be Dickson’s alter ego.

In October 1972, appellee propounded written interrogatories to the ap pellants, and although objections were directed to many of them, appellants failed to answer those as to which there was no objection. Then for a period of eight months appellee awaited answers while appellants argued objections, obtained extensions of time, perfected an interlocutory appeal which was dismissed for lack of prosecution, and generally procrastinated. Finally, on April 23, 1973, the court ordered appellants to answer certain interrogatories within ten days. As might be expected from a perusal of this record, that time came and went without performance. But appellants obtained a stipulation from appellee for a further extension of time to June IS, 1973. In return for appel-lee’s agreement to the extension of time, the appellants stipulated that if they did not comply with the court’s order of April 23, 1973, by June IS, 1973, their answers would be stricken and a default would be entered without notice. True to form, appellants failed to file their answers to' the interrogatories in question by June 15th. On June 18, 1973, appellants filed a motion for an extension of time to August 1, 1973, on the ground that J. W. Dickson was out of the country. Counsel for appellants also filed what he termed “Further Supplemental Answers to Interrogatories” in which he purported to answer the interrogatories in question. However, in his June 18th motion counsel states unequivocally that he is not able to fully answer said interrogatories.

Thus, it seems clear that the appellants failed to act in accordance with their stipulation — they did not comply with the court’s order of April 23, 1973. The answers ultimately filed by appellants’ counsel were incomplete by his own admission, and thus under Rule 1.380(a)(3), RCP, are to be treated as no answer. It is worthy of note, since it fits appellants’ general pattern of conduct in this case, that though appellants’ motion of June 18th asks for an extension of time to August 1 to properly answer the interrogatories, said motion was never set.for hearing and August 1st came and went without any effort on the record toward compliance.

Accordingly, the entry of the order of August 7, 1973 striking appellants’ answers and entering a default was not only agreed to by appellants in their stipulation but was entirely warranted.

We have considered appellants’ other points on appeal and find them to be without merit except as to their complaint that the receiver appointed by the court was not required to furnish a bond.

Appellee concedes on oral argument that the receiver should be required to post a bond. In fact, the record reflects that appellee has a pending motion in the court below to set the terms and conditions of a bond for the receiver. In view of the foregoing, the final judgment is affirmed in all respects, except that upon remand the trial court shall, upon notice, set the terms and conditions of a bond for the receiver appointed in the final judgment.

WALDEN and MAGER, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Watson v. Peskoe, 407 So. 2d 954 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)
    …order requiring her to disclose names of present and former employers); Ferrante v. Waters, 383 So. 2d 749 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980) (defendant for six months totally failed to comply with discovery order); E. Z. E., Inc. v. Little River Bank & Trust Co., 300 So. 2d 43 (Fla. 4th DCA 1974) (defendant unreasonably delayed answering interrogatories for eight months and then failed to abide by stipulation providing that interrogatories would be answered by certain date); Riley v. Gustinger, 235 So. 2d 364 (Fla.3d DCA…
  • Ferrante v. Waters, 383 So. 2d 749 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)
    …t in which she had been served and had filed answer, we are of the opinion that such conduct falls squarely within the above-cited case authorities and amply justifies the action of the trial court. See E.Z.E., Inc. v. Little River Bank & Trust Co., 300 So. 2d 43 (Fla.4th DCA 1974) and Herold v. Computer Components International, Inc., supra. Accordingly, the order appealed is AFFIRMED. DOWNEY, J., concurs. LETTS, C. J., concurring specially with opinion.…
  • Digaetano v. Sandro Perotti, 388 So. 2d 654 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)
    …PER CURIAM. Affirmed. E.Z.E., Inc. v. Little River Bank and Trust Co., 300 So. 2d 43 (Fla. 4th DCA 1974); Riley v. Gustinger, 235 So. 2d 364 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970).…

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