PAN AMERICAN STONE CO., INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
L.A. MEISTER, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS CHAIRMAN OF TREASURE CAY LIMITED AND TREASURE CAY LIMITED, APPELLEES
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The court held that a trial court cannot take judicial notice of evidence from another case unless that evidence is formally introduced into the current case's record. The court also found insufficient evidence for consequential damages.
The trial court found the defendant's evidence of tile delivery incredible, relying on a prior case involving the defendant's inventory records. The a…
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HERSEY, Chief Judge.
Pan American Stone Company, Inc., defendant below in a breach of contract action, appeals a final judgment, rendered after a bench trial, in favor of appel-lee.
The trial court found that
[bjecause of another case which Defendant recently had in front of this Court, also dealing with its inventory records, the Court finds that the Defendant’s testimony and evidence regarding the alleged delivery of all of the tile under the contract to be incredible....
This was reversible error. If a court proposes to take judicial notice of evidence in another case, that evidence must be brought into the record of the case under consideration. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania v. Underwood, 502 So. 2d 1325 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987). As stated in Underwood,
[t]he problem with a trial judge’s browsing through his own court records or calling upon his memory of other cases is that the appellate court is restricted to the record before it to reach its determination of the soundness of the decision below. Absent those judicially noticed records or documents, such review is impossible.
Id. at 1328. See also Cassels v. Ideal Farms Drainage District, 156 Fla. 152, 23 So. 2d 247 (1945).
We also note that there was insufficient evidence to support the award of consequential damages, as such damages are recoverable only for “[a]ny loss resulting from general or particular requirements and needs of which the seller at the time of contracting had reason to know and which could not reasonably be prevented by cover or otherwise” and “[ijnjury to person or property proximately resulting from any breach of warranty.” § 672.715(2), Fla. Stat. (1987).
We reverse and remand for a new trial on all issues.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
DOWNEY and DELL, JJ., concur.
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Brandt v. Brandt, 561 So. 2d 1353 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990)…. 4th DCA 1986), cause dismissed, 491 So. 2d 281 (Fla.1986). In addition, the trial court erred in taking judicial notice of another court’s restraining order without having the order brought into the record. Pan American Stone Co., Inc. v. Meister, 527 So. 2d 275 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988). We are sympathetic with the trial court’s apparent frustration in obtaining the former wife’s compliance with prior court orders. However, he must fashion some form of relief other than by an impermissible modification of the me…
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Taverna v. Bank OF Am., 162 So. 3d 1042 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015)…where the trial court rejected Taverna’s objections to the representations and did not afford Taverna the opportunity to present evidence to the contrary. Brandt v. Brandt, 561 So. 2d 1353 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990); Pan American Stone Co. v. L.A. Meister, 527 So. 2d 275 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988); Rodriguez v. Philip, 413 So. 2d 441 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982). We conclude, under the circumstances here, that Taverna was unduly prejudiced by the unsubstantiated representation regarding the ultimate fact in issue and, consequently,…
Authorities Cited
- Maude D. VON Khron v. Ideal Farms Drainage Dist., 156 Fla. 152 (Fla. 1945)
- Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh v. Underwood, 502 So. 2d 1325 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987)
- Bettie C. Cassels v. Ideal Farms Drainage Dist., 156 Fla. 152 (Fla. 1945)
- Hasselgrove v. Mac Connell, 156 Fla. 156 (Fla. 1945)