MOORE HANDLEY, INC., A FOREIGN CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
MAJOR REALTY CORPORATION, A FOREIGN CORPORATION, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1976-12-17
No. 76-2076
MAGER, C. J., and CROSS, J., concur.
340 So. 2d 1238 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1976) Negative Treatment
Cited by 15 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

Moore Handley appeals an order denying its motion to dismiss a counterclaim filed by Major Realty in a mechanic's lien foreclosure action. The appellate court partially reversed, holding that the restitution count stated a valid cause of action but the fraud count failed to allege sufficient facts.


Holding

The first count for money had and received/restitution states a valid cause of action based on allegations of unjust enrichment and failure of consideration. The second count for fraud fails to state a cause of action because no intentional misrepresentation of past or existing facts is alleged, and no representations are alleged to have been made after the checks were delivered.


Headnotes

[1] An action for money had and received may be maintained when one possesses money belonging to another that, in equity and good conscience, should be paid over.

[2] A cause of action for restitution based on unjust enrichment requires allegations of facts demonstrating that an injustice would occur if money were not refunded.

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Key Quotes

“An action for money had and received may, in general, be maintained whenever one has money in his hands belonging to another, which in equity and good conscience, he ought to pay over to that other.”

Establishes the foundational principle for the restitution cause of action that the court upheld.

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Facts & Procedural History

Moore Handley was to supply materials for Major Realty's condominium project. Major Realty issued checks jointly payable to R & D Framing Contractors …

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Opinion of the Court
ALDERMAN, Judge.

ALDERMAN, Judge.

This is an interlocutory appeal by the plaintiff below, Moore Handley, Inc., from an order denying its motion to dismiss both counts of the defendant’s counterclaim. The appellant brought the original action to foreclose a mechanic’s lien. Appellee Major Realty’s counterclaim made the following allegations of fact:

Major Realty was informed by R & D Framing Contractors that Moore Handley was to be the supplier of certain materials for Major Realty’s Cypress Creek Condominium Phase II project. R & D requested that payments be made jointly to it and Moore Handley.

R & D subsequently submitted three invoices to Major Realty for materials allegedly purchased from Moore Handley for the Cypress Creek Project; Major Realty responded with three drafts jointly payable to R & D and Moore Handley. R & D presented two of the drafts, for $67,754.67 and $57,603.96 respectively, to Moore Hand-ley, who (Major Realty alleges) had at that time delivered only $73,332.20 worth of materials to the Cypress Creek project. Both Moore Handley and R & D endorsed the two drafts; R & D deposited them in its own account and, in the words of the counterclaim,

“Moore Handley Lumber Company, Inc. did accept from R & D Framing Contractors, Inc. some of the proceeds of those checks and did apply some of the proceeds to the Cypress Creek account and other proceeds to other accounts that R & D . . . was maintaining with Moore Handley ... for other jobs, and by doing so did wrongfully apply the monies paid by Major Realty Corporation to debts other than the debt due and owing on the Cypress Creek account.”

The first count of the counterclaim seeks a judgment for monies wrongfully received by Moore Handley, and in our opinion that count successfully states a cause of action, whether one labels it with the terminology of the old common count “for money had and received” (indebitatus assumpsit) or the more current “restitution” to prevent “unjust enrichment.”

“An action for money had and received may, in general, be maintained whenever one has money in his hands belonging to another, which in equity and good conscience, he ought to pay over to that other.” Love v. Brown Development Co. of Michigan, 100 Fla. 1373, 131 So. 144, 147 (1930).

There can be no strict rule as to what constitutes unjust enrichment, nor can an exhaustive list be given of elements which must be alleged in a pleading in order to state a cause of action for restitution. Everything depends on the circumstances of the individual case and whether or not the pleader has alleged facts which show that an injustice would occur if money were not refunded. See Cullen v. Seaboard Air Line By., 63 Fla. 122, 58 So. 182, 184 (1912). In the present case, at the very least a failure of consideration has been alleged.

As for the second count of the counterclaim, it purports to state a cause of action for fraud, and we hold that it fails to do so. All of the alleged unjust machinations on the part of the appellant occurred after Major Realty had been presented with invoices by R & D and had thereby been induced to make out checks payable jointly to R & D and the appellant. It is not alleged that R & D intentionally misrepresented any past or existing fact when it presented the invoices to Major Realty, and there is no indication that any further representations of any kind were made to Major Realty after it had delivered the checks. Thus we cannot even say that subsequent misrepresentations may have induced injurious inaction.

We find that Count I states a cause of action but Count II does not. That portion of the trial court’s order denying appellant’s motion to dismiss Count II is hereby reversed, with leave to the appellee to amend Count II.

REVERSED in part, AFFIRMED in part.

MAGER, C. J., and CROSS, J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Duty Free World v. Miami Perfume Junction, 253 So. 3d 689 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)
  • Hall v. Humana Hosp. Daytona Beach, 686 So. 2d 653 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)
    …na overcharged the plaintiffs for these items in violation of its common law and statutory obligations.4 An action for money had and received, or the more modern action for unjust enrichment, see generally Moore Handley, Inc. v. Major Realty Corp., 340 So. 2d 1238 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976), is an equitable remedy requiring proof that money had been paid due to fraud, misrepresentation, imposition, duress, undue influence, mistake, or as a result of some other grounds appropriate for intervention by a court of equit…
  • …So. 2d 921, 922 (1944). The foregoing list is not exclusive, and a claim for money had and received may be based upon any set of facts “which show that an injustice would occur if money were not refunded.” Moore Handley, Inc. v. Major Realty Corp., 340 So. 2d 1238, 1239 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). SECTION 500 — DAMAGES NOTE ON USE These instructions are numbered 504 to not conflict with the instructions already numbered 501 through 503 by the Florida Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Civil…

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