SENTRY INDEMNITY COMPANY, APPELLANT,
v.
ANGEL & SON, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, ET AL., APPELLEES
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Sentry Indemnity Company appealed an interlocutory order transferring its indemnity action from Orange County to Broward County. The court reversed, holding that under Florida law, venue in an indemnity contract action lies where the payee (defendant) resides or has an established place of business, which was Orange County in this case.
The court held that under Florida law, where an indemnity contract does not specify the place of payment, payment is owed where the payee resides or has an established place of business. Therefore, venue lies in Orange County where Sentry's regional office was located, not in Broward County.
[1] Venue for a suit on an indemnity contract, where the contract does not specify a place of payment, lies in the county where the payee resides or has an established place…
[2] A cause of action for indemnity accrues in the county where the payee has a residence or established place of business if the indemnity contract does not specify a place…
Previewing 2 of 3 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“The contract does not provide for the place of payment; therefore payment (if due) is to be made where the payee resides or has an established place of business.”
Establishes the governing rule for determining the place of payment in contracts without explicit venue provisions.
Previewing 1 of 2 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAngel & Son, Inc. contracted to construct a sidewalk for the City of Fort Lauderdale in Broward County and provided a performance bond with Sentry as …
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DOWNEY, Judge.
This interlocutory appeal involves the propriety of the trial court’s order transferring this cause from Orange County to Broward County.
Appellee Angel & Son, Inc., entered into a contract to construct a sidewalk for the City of Fort Lauderdale in Broward County, Florida. Pursuant to that contract Angel & Son, Inc., furnished a performance bond with appellant as surety. As a condition precedent to the issuance of the bond the corporate appellee and the individual appellees executed an agreement to indemnify appellant for any loss accruing to appellant by virtue of its acting as surety.
One of the subcontractors recovered a judgment against both appellant and the corporate appellee for labor and materials furnished on the construction project, and in due course appellant satisfied the judgment. This suit for indemnity was then instituted by appellant in Orange County. Appellees moved to transfer the case to Broward County, asserting that the construction contract was entered into in Bro-ward County, the construction project was in Broward County, and the defendant-ap-pellees were all residents of said county. Plaintiff-appellant, a foreign corporation, countered the motion by affidavit stating that the regional office for the plaintiff is located in Orlando, Orange County, Florida. The trial court granted the motion and ordered the cause transferred to Bro-ward County.
Essentially appellant is suing appel-lees for money owed as a result of the indemnity contract. The contract does not provide for the place of payment; therefore payment (if due) is to be made where the payee resides or has an established place of business. Baruch v. W. B. Haggerty, Inc., 137 Fla. 799, 188 So. 797 (1939); Saf-T-Clean, Inc. v. Martin-Marietta Corporation, Fla.1967, 197 So. 2d 8.
Under the rule set forth in the foregoing cases appellant’s cause of action (if any) accrued in Orange County. Venue therefore lies in Orange County, and the court erred in transferring the cause to Broward County.
For the foregoing reasons, the order appealed from is reversed and the cause is remanded for further proceedings.
WALDEN, C. J., and CROSS, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Matey v. James H. Pruitt Real Est., Inc., 455 So. 2d 1153 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984)…PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. See Sentry Indemnity Company v. Angel & Son, Inc., 332 So. 2d 83 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). COBB, C.J., and SHARP and COWART, JJ., concur.…
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State v. SAN Marco Contracting Co., 355 So. 2d 133 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978)…er a construction contract performed wholly in Walton County. Indemnity arises from contract, it is argued, and as in other contract cases the place of payment establishes where the cause of action accrues. Sentry Indemnity Co. v. Angel & Son, Inc., 332 So. 2d 83 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). See also Duggan v. Tomlinson, 174 So. 2d 393 (Fla.1965), to the effect that an action on an implied contract for the payment of money may be maintained in the county of plaintiff’s residence. When one party sues another on acco…
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Sundor Brands, Inc. v. Groves Co., Inc., 604 So. 2d 901 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992)…and that this case falls within the rule that where the breach alleged is the failure to pay money due under a contract, the cause of action “accrues”, for venue purposes, where payment was to have been made. Sentry Indem. Co. v. Angel & Son, Inc., 332 So. 2d 83 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). Where, as here, a contractually incurred obligation to pay money is the performance called for in the contract, the residence of the payee is the place of performance, and on default of payment, is where the cause of action accr…
Authorities Cited
- Sailing W. Baruch v. W. B. Haggerty, Inc., 137 Fla. 799 (Fla. 1939)
- Saf-T-Clean, Inc. v. Martin-Marietta Corp., 197 So. 2d 8 (Fla. 1967)