IGLESIAS AND SANTANA
v.
WEINGARTEN OPINION SEPT 18

15th Cir. Ct. App. Div. | 2018-09-01
No. 18AP28
1 FLCA 6264 Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Court, Appellate Division (2018)

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

Iglesias and Santana appealed a Final Judgment awarding damages to Weingarten for the tenants' default on a lease. The appellate court found that the trial court erred in not crediting the $2,750 advanced payment (comprising a security deposit and last month's rent) against the damages owed, and reversed and remanded for correction of this accounting error.


Holding

The trial court erred in not accounting for the $2,750 advanced payment. The Final Judgment must be reversed and remanded for the trial court to reduce the damages owed by $2,750 to reflect this set-off. All other issues raised by the tenants were without merit.


Headnotes

[1] A party is entitled to a set-off for payments advanced under a lease agreement when calculating damages for default.

[2] An appellate court may reverse a trial court's judgment and remand for modification when the trial court fails to account for an admitted error in calculating damages.

Previewing 2 of 4 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

Key Quotes

“The sum of the damages awarded to Weingarten did not account for the $2,750.00 payment advanced to Weingarten by Iglesias and Santana, which covered $1,750.00 for the security deposit and $1,000.00 towards the last month's rent.”

Identifies the specific accounting error that was the basis for reversal

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Iglesias and Santana entered into a twelve-month lease with Weingarten. The tenants advanced $2,750 to Weingarten, which included $1,750 for the secur…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court

Vassallo, Bilotta, Friedman & Davis 50 E. Ocean Blvd., Ste. 201 Stuart, Florida 34994 [email protected]

PER CURIAM.

Paul Anthony Iglesias and Carmen Batista Santana ("Iglesias and Santana") appeal the Final Judgment entered by the trial court, which awarded $14,292.98 in damages, plus $8,178.35 in attorney's fees and costs to Lori Weingarten ("Weingarten"), personal representative of the Estate of William T. Weingarten. The trial court awarded damages to Weingarten because Iglesias and Santana defaulted on their twelve-month lease agreement. The sum of the damages awarded to Weingarten did not account for the $2,750.00 payment advanced to Weingarten by Iglesias and Santana, which covered $1,750.00 for the security deposit and $1,000.00 towards the last month's rent. Iglesias and Santana argue that this was in error and that the Final Judgment should be reduced by $2,750.00 to reflect their advanced payment. Weingarten concedes the error. We agree, and REVERSE the Final Judgment and REMAND for the trial court to reduce the amount of damages owed by Iglesias and Santana to include the set-off of $2,750.00. We find no merit in any other issue set forth by Iglesias and Santana and therefore AFFIRM the Final Judgment in all other respects.

The Court may award attorney's fees to the party in whose favor a judgment or decree has been rendered, pursuant to the lease and section 83.48, Florida Statutes (2018). Both parties to this appeal have only partially prevailed and, as such, we DENY Weingarten's Motion for Appellate Attorney's Fees.

ARTAU, BLANC, FRENCH, JJ., concur. Page 2 of 2 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA

PAUL ANTHONY IGLESIAS and, CARMEN BATISTA SAΝΤΑΝΑ, Appellants,

V.

LORI WEINGARTEN, Personal Representative of THE ESTATE OF WILLIAM T. WEINGARTEN, Deceased, Appellee.

APPELLATE DIVISION (CIVIL): AY CASE NO.: 502018AP000028CAXXMB L.T. NO.: 502017CC007031XXXXNB

Opinion/Decision filed: DEC 1 1 2018


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw