MARSHALL R. CASSEDY, JR., APPELLANT,
v.
ALLAND INVESTMENTS CORPORATION, A DISSOLVED FLORIDA CORPORATION, PAUL M. EARNHART, AND WILLIAM K. PINKERTON, APPELLEES
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Appellant Cassedy invested $315,000 in Alland Investments Corporation, which failed to acquire intended Texas property. When Cassedy sued for a final accounting of his investment after receiving only a preliminary one-page summary, the trial court dismissed the suit as time-barred under the statute of limitations. The appellate court reversed, holding that the limitations period does not begin to run until the fiduciary duty to provide a final accounting is repudiated.
The limitations period does not begin to run on a fiduciary accounting claim until there is actual repudiation of the fiduciary duty to provide a final accounting. Because Appellant only knew that no complete accounting had been rendered—not that the duty to provide one had been repudiated—summary judgment was improper.
[1] A fiduciary duty requires the rendering of a final accounting.
[2] The statute of limitations applies to both legal and equitable actions.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“As fiduciaries, Appellees were required to render a final accounting.”
Establishes the core fiduciary duty owed by Earnhart and Pinkerton to Cassedy
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellant invested $315,000 in Alland Investments Corporation, formed to purchase and develop real property in Texas. The property purchase contract w…
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BROWNING, C.J.
Appellant seeks review of an order entering final summary judgment for Appel-lees. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the judgment.
Appellee Alland Investments Corporation (Alland) is a dissolved, for-profit Florida corporation formed to purchase and develop real property in Texas. Appellant invested $315,000 in this venture, but Al-land never acquired the property; the contract to purchase the land was lost on approximately June 30, 1999. On June 29, 1999, Appellant requested a full accounting.
In response, Appellees wrote back on July 6, 1999, attaching a “single page accounting summary format,” noting that certain expenses were not included in the “accounting summary,” and stating, “[a] comprehensive accounting must be completed by year’s end to include everything above ... we have the rest of the year during which this task can be accomplished in detailed form.” After more correspondence, Appellee Earnhart wrote to Appellant on August 18, 1999, asserting Appellant “has been in possession of the accounting summary since July 6, 1999,” and refusing to send over “any and all paperwork in [his] possession that evidences attempts to purchase the property”
Appellant filed the instant complaint on June 15, 2006, and Appellees moved for summary judgment on the reasoning that the suit was barred by the statute of limitations because the cause of action accrued in 1999. The circuit court agreed with Appellees; however, we conclude this ruling was erroneous.
It is clear Appellant was owed a final accounting because, on a motion for summary judgment, the facts must be taken in the light most favorable to the non-movant (see Key v. Trattmann, 959 So. 2d 339 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007)), and Appellant has alleged both that he did not receive a final accounting (and that the one-page summary was not a final accounting), and that Appellees Earnhart and Pinkerton owed him a fiduciary duty. As fiduciaries, Appellees were required to render a final accounting. See Ashemimry v. Ba Nafa, 778 So. 2d 495, 498 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001).
It is also clear that the suit is subject to the statute of limitations. While Appellant is correct that this action is in equity, see Nayee v. Nayee, 705 So. 2d 961 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998), Appellees are correct that the statute of limitations nonetheless applies because it has applied to both legal and equitable actions since 1974, see Chapter 74-382, section 7, Laws of Florida. So, the current action would be untimely if the cause of action arose in 1999, under either section 95.11(2)(b), Florida Statutes, which provides that a legal or equitable action on a written contract shall be commenced within five years, or section 95.11(3)(k), Florida Statutes, which provides that such an action on an unwritten contract shall be commenced within four years.
However, the limitations period did not begin to run in 1999 because there has been no repudiation of the duty to provide a final accounting. See Manchester Band of Pomo Indians, Inc. v. United States, 363 F.Supp. 1238, 1248-49 (N.D.Cal.1973), cited in Cobell v. Norton, 260 F. Supp. 2d 98, 105 (D.D.C.2003).
Accordingly, we reverse the summary judgment, and remand for further proceedings below. This conclusion is sup ported by Nayee, 705 So. 2d at 965, wherein it was held that summary judgment was precluded by a fact question as to when the beneficiaries of a trust had knowledge of the trustee’s repudiation of the trust or the adverse possession of the trust assets. The Nayee court noted that “[k]nowledge that no accounting had been rendered ... is knowledge only of a breach of trust, and not of any repudiation or adverse possession of trust assets”; that is the case here, where Appellant only knew no accounting had been rendered, without knowledge of any repudiation.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
LEWIS and HAWKES, JJ., concur.
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Cassedy v. Alland Invs. Corp., 128 So. 3d 976 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014)…ent in favor of appellees, finding the accounting action was barred by the statute of limitations. This court reversed, finding the trial court improperly granted summary judgment based on the statute of limitations. Cassedy v. Alland Invest. Corp., 982 So. 2d 719 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008) (Cassedy I). On remand, the trial court entered an order granting partial summary judgment in favor of appellant, finding (1) he was entitled to an accounting; and (2) appel-lees were barred from asserting a statute of limitatio…
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Cassedy v. Alland Invs. Corp., 192 So. 3d 651 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016)…squandering of monies on improper and extravagant items unrelated to the purpose of the venture. A decade of litigation followed. See Cassedy v. Alland Invs. Corp., 128 So. 3d 976, 979 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014) (Cassedy II); Cassedy v. Alland Invs. Corp., 982 So. 2d 719, 720 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008) (Cassedy I). After the second of two prior appeals (both of which Mr. Cassedy won), this case was remanded for an evidentiary hearing at which the “appellees had the burden to prove by competent, substantial evidence that th…
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Zaki Kulaibee Establishment v. McFLIKER, 771 F.3d 1301 (11th Cir. 2014)…8 F. 2d 1538, 1540 (11th Cir.1990))). Whatever the state of Florida law at the time of Kee, we believe our statement above accurately reflects current Florida law, as demonstrated by several post-Kee decisions. See Cassedy v. Alland Invs. Corp., 982 So. 2d 719, 720 (Fla. 1st Dist.Ct.App.2008) ("As fiduciaries, Appellees were required to render a final accounting."); Ashemimry v. Ba Nafa, 778 So. 2d 495, 498 (Fla.5th Dist.Ct.App.2001) ("Where a fiduciary or trust relationship exists, an action for an acco…
Authorities Cited
- Ramabhai Sankabhai Nayee v. Jayantilal Sankabhai Nayee, 705 So. 2d 961 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998)
- Nasir M. Ashemimry v. Sheik Ahmed Abdul Rahman Saleh BA Nafa, 778 So. 2d 495 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)
- Garrison KEY v. Dieter Trattmann, 959 So. 2d 339 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007)