LORENZO LORENZO AND ROSARY LORENZO, HIS WIFE, APPELLANTS,
v.
ASSOCIATED TRADE INVESTMENTS, INC., MATT BIRSON, FONTANILLS ENTERPRISES, INC., AND PHILLIP FONTANILLS, APPELLEES
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The court affirmed judgment for defendants, holding that homeowners who agreed to bifurcate claims and tried legal issues by consent in a non-jury equitable trial were bound by collateral estoppel on their subsequent legal claims.
Homeowners who agreed to bifurcate legal and equitable claims and interjected legal issues as defenses in a non-jury equitable trial tried those legal issues by consent and are bound by collateral estoppel.
[1] Parties who agree to bifurcate legal and equitable claims and introduce legal issues as defenses in a non-jury equitable trial try those legal issues by consent and are b…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceHomeowners Lorenzo and Rosary Lorenzo brought claims against contractors Associated Trade Investments, Inc., Matt Birson, Fontanills Enterprises, Inc.…
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PER CURIAM.
Because the plaintiff homeowners [Lorenzo and Rosary Lorenzo] (a) agreed to both a bifurcation of the legal and equitable claims in this action as well as a non-jury trial of the equitable claims first, and (b) interjected legal issues, over objection, by way of defense in the trial of the equitable claims brought by the defendanVcounterclaimant contractors [Associated Trade Investments, Inc., Matt Birson, Fontanills Enterprises, Inc., and Phillip Fontanills] in that the plaintiffs of fered evidence at trial raising such defenses, we conclude that the plaintiffs tried the legal issues by consent in the non-jury equitable action.
Accordingly, the trial court did not commit error, as urged, in resolving the legal issues raised by the plaintiffs at the non-jury trial of the equitable claims, in entering judgment for the defendants on their equitable claim, and in later entering a summary judgment for the defendants on the plaintiffs’ legal claims based on the collateral estoppel effect of the trial court’s factual findings in the non-jury trial on the equitable claims.
Moreover, we find no stipulation in the record that there was to be no collateral estoppel effect to the trial court’s factual findings on the equitable claims at the non-jury trial. R.D.J. Enters., Inc. v. Mega Bank, 600 So. 2d 1229 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 609 So. 2d 40 (Fla.1992).
Affirmed.
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Citator
Cited By
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Utterback v. Starkey, 669 So. 2d 304 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)…*306] ments § 627a, at 1325 (Edward W. Tuttle ed., 5th ed. 1925) (“It is essential, however, that an adjudication be final and not merely interlocutory, in order that it may operate as an estoppel.”); see also Lorenzo v. Associated Trade Inv., Inc., 625 So. 2d 1279 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993); Sundale Assocs., Ltd. v. Southeast Bank, N.A., 471 So. 2d 100, 103-104 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), and cases cited. Affirmed. .It is probably small comfort to the appellant that, since the case involved his successful efforts, as the c…
Authorities Cited
- R.D.J. Enters., Inc. v. Mega Bank & Charles Kantor, 600 So. 2d 1229 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)