CHRIS ROBINSON, APPELLANT,
v.
CINEMA INTERNATIONAL, LTD., APPELLEE
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Robinson appeals the trial court's order striking his counterclaim in a replevin action filed by Cinema International to recover a film. The court reverses, holding that counterclaims are permissible in replevin actions, particularly where the counterclaim arises from the same transaction as the original claim.
A counterclaim may be asserted in a replevin action, especially where the counterclaim and the replevin claim arise out of the same transaction or involve the same subject matter. The trial court erred in striking the counterclaim solely because it was asserted in a replevin action.
[1] A counterclaim may be asserted in a replevin action when it arises out of the same transaction as the plaintiff's cause of action.
[2] Florida Statute § 46.08, which previously restricted joinder of causes of action in replevin, was repealed and no longer prohibits counterclaims in replevin actions.
Previewing 2 of 5 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 court [is] of the opinion that by the very nature of the replevin action . no counterclaim may be asserted.”
The trial court's stated reason for striking the counterclaim, which the appellate court found to be error.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRobinson was commissioned by Cinema International to produce, direct, and act in a motion picture. Robinson retained possession of the film after prod…
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LETTS, Judge.
This case involves a complaint for replev-in and an appeal from the trial court’s action striking a counterclaim thereto, with prejudice. We reverse.
The appellant kept possession of the actual film, shot for a motion picture which he had been commissioned, by the appellee, to produce, direct and act in. The appellee filed a replevin action to recover same and the appellant filed a counterclaim alleging that he was supposed to become a 50% owner of the picture and that this co-ownership agreement had been breached.
Said counterclaim was struck, with prejudice, by the trial court for the sole reason that:
“The court [is] of the opinion that by the very nature of the replevin action . no counterclaim may be asserted. .
One has only to read the appellee’s brief to reconstruct what law must have been cited to the trial judge to cause the latter to make this error. (The appellee did not appear for oral argument before this court). Up until 1967, Florida was possessed of Statute § 46.08, Fla.Stat. (1965), which read in part:
“Causes of action, of whatever kind, by and against the same parties in the same rights, may be joined in the same suit, except that replevin and ejectment shall not be joined together nor with other causes of action.”
We need not speculate whether the above would properly forbid a counterclaim, as distinct from forbidding a multicount complaint, because the quoted language was removed from the statute books by Chapter 67-254, Laws of Florida, § 3, under which only the venue provisions of the removed section survived to become § 47.041, Fla. Stat. (1975). Accordingly, the line of Florida cases supporting the judge’s ruling were all decided prior to the repeal of § 46.08 and cannot now be relied on. See Seven Seas Frozen Products, Inc. v. Fast Frozen Foods,Inc., 43 So. 2d 181 (Fla.1949); Butler v. Mirabelli, 179 So. 2d 868 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965), and National Leasing Corp. v. Bombay Hotel, 159 So. 2d 111 (Fla. 3d DCA 1964).
Nor do we construe § 78.02(3) to bar a counterclaim in a replevin action as it appears to us that this latter section simply forbids a defendant from the re-replevin of property which has already been replevined, in the same cause, by the opposing party.
Research does not reveal any recent Florida cases which pass on the propriety of filing a counterclaim in an action for re-plevin, although Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.170(b) would appear to permit it. The general rule in other jurisdictions, however, is that such counterclaims are permitted. In 66 Am. Jur.2d, Replevin, § 48, it is stated on page 866:
“In most jurisdictions, often by statutory provision, the general rule that a setoff or counterclaim is allowable where it arises out of the same transaction as that on which the plaintiff’s cause of action is founded, or where it involves the same subject matter, has been applied to permit defenses by way of counterclaim or setoff in replevin or similar actions for the recovery of personal property.”
An example of a case where such was held to be proper is Linscomb v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., 199 F. 2d 431 (8th Cir. 1952), in which the purchaser of a burned down warehouse salvaged some property, belonging to former tenants and still having value. The former tenants brought an action for replevin, but the purchaser was permitted to obtain judgment on his counterclaim for the reasonable value of his services rendered to salvage the property.
In the present case, the claim for replevin is based on a film on which the appellant worked. His counterclaim is for damages for breach of contract, arising out of the production of the same movie. It is thus clear that the counterclaim and the original claim both arise out of the same single transaction. We see no legal, nor policy, reason why defendant’s counterclaim cannot be litigated along with the original cause.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
ALDERMAN, C. J., and MOORE, J., concur.
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Maye G. Neil v. S. Fla. Auto Painters, Inc., 397 So. 2d 1160 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)…h, or counterclaim filed against, a replevin action, Huckleberry v. Davis Double Seal Jalousies, Inc., 117 So. 2d 519 (Fla. 3d DCA 1960), the repeal of that statute paved the way for counterclaims to replevin. Robinson v. Cinema International, Ltd., 356 So. 2d 843 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978) (allowing permissive counterclaim in replevin action, but erroneously employing compulsory counterclaim language). . Rule 13(a) is the federal counterpart of Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.170(a). Decisions under the Federal…
Authorities Cited
- Amorelli v. Cazin, 179 So. 2d 868 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965)
- Linscomb v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc., 199 F.2d 431 (8th Cir. 1952)
- Seven Seas Frozen Prods. v. Fast Frozen Foods, 43 So. 2d 181 (Fla. 1949)
- Nat'l Leasing Corp. v. Bombay Hotel, Inc., 159 So. 2d 111 (Fla. 3d DCA 1963)