OLIVER-HOFFMANN CORPORATION, A FOREIGN CORPORATION, PETITIONER,
v.
OCEAN HARBOR ASSOCIATION, INC., A CORPORATION NOT-FOR-PROFIT, IN ITS OWN BEHALF AND ON BEHALF OF ITS MEMBERS, AND CARL W. HEINLE AND MARIETT HEINLE, HIS WIFE, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL APARTMENT UNIT OWNERS OF OCEAN HARBOR, A CONDOMINIUM, AS A CLASS, THE CITY OF DEERFIELD BEACH, FLORIDA, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, AND J. J. ARNAU, INDIVIDUALLY, AND IN HIS CAPACITY OF CHIEF BUILDING INSPECTOR OF DEERFIELD BEACH, RESPONDENTS
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Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation, an Illinois corporation, sought certiorari review of a trial court's denial of its motion for summary judgment in a condominium defect case. The court denied the petition, finding that the Illinois corporation was never a proper party to the suit and the trial court correctly struck it from the case when plaintiffs amended their complaint to name the correct Florida defendant.
The trial court properly denied the motion for summary judgment because the Illinois corporation Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation was never a proper party to the suit; plaintiffs never intended to sue the Illinois corporation and the complaint was amended to name the correct Florida corporation defendant.
[1] A petition for writ of certiorari is denied when the trial court correctly determines that the petitioner was never a party to the underlying suit.
[2] A party that voluntarily files an answer in litigation, despite not being properly named, cannot later seek summary judgment on the grounds that it was not the intended d…
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 trial court found that Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation, an Illinois corporation, was not a named party to this suit.”
Establishes that the Illinois corporation was never a proper party to the litigation
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRespondents filed suit against Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation and others for damages from defective condominium construction. The Illinois corporation Ol…
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DOWNEY, Judge.
Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation, a foreign corporation, has filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to review an order of the trial court, dated July 6, 1977, wherein, among other things, the court denied the petitioner’s motion for summary judgment.
Respondent, Ocean Harbor Association, Inc., and several condominium unit owners, filed a suit against Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation, the City of Deerfield Beach and J. J. Arnau, individually, and as Building Inspec tor of the City of Deerfield Beach, for damages arising out of the defective construction of the condominium building and appurtenances. An answer was filed, apparently without service of process upon it, by Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation. Thereafter, the plaintiffs in the suit moved to strike certain affirmative defenses, which was denied in part. A motion for summary judgment was then filed by Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation, Inc., supported by an affidavit signed by Paul W. Hoffmann, as President of Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation, an Illinois corporation. Plaintiffs then moved to amend their pleadings to reflect that the intended defendant developer was Oliver-Hoffman Corp. of Deerfield Beach, a Florida corporation, rather than Oliver-Hoff-mann Corporation.
The trial court denied petitioner’s motion for summary judgment as counsel for the plaintiff conceded that the proper defendant was Oliver-Hoffman Corp. of Deerfield Beach, a Florida corporation, and that the parties had no intention of suing Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation, an Illinois corporation. And, as a matter of fact, the trial court found that Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation, an Illinois corporation, was not a named party to this suit.
In this posture of the case it seems to us that petitioner voluntarily filed an answer in this litigation when it was not properly named; that the plaintiff never intended to sue Oliver-Hoffmann Corporation, an Illinois corporation; that the pleadings have now been amended to name the developer of the condominium improvements as a defendant. The mission of petitioner’s motion for a summary judgment was to eliminate the Illinois corporation from the suit. The trial court found that the Illinois corporation was never a party to the suit and we think properly so. Therefore, it appears to us that the petitioner has no cause to complain here because the trial court’s order settled any question about the Illinois corporation’s being a party to the suit.
Accordingly, the Petition for Writ of Cer-tiorari is denied.
DAUKSCH and MOORE, JJ., concur.