ANNE MATEJKA, AS SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE OF THE VLADIMIR AND OTTILIE MATEJKA TRUST DATED OCTOBER 25, 1994, AND INDIVIDUALLY, AND JEAN CECCALDI, INDIVIDUALLY, APPELLANTS,
v.
VERA DULANEY, APPELLEE
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In a trust accounting dispute, the trial court entered a default judgment against Anne Matejka and Jean Ceccaldi and later set a hearing on unliquidated damages. The court reversed because appellants were given only ten days' notice of the hearing when Florida Rules of Civil Procedure require at least thirty days' notice for unliquidated damages determinations after a default.
The court held that appellants were entitled to at least thirty days' notice under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.440(c) because the damages were unliquidated and could not be determined with exactness from the trust agreement. The ten days' notice provided violated this due process entitlement, requiring reversal and remand for a new trial on damages.
[1] Striking a party's pleadings as a sanction for discovery violations is not an abuse of discretion when the party demonstrates a willful and contumacious disregard for the…
[2] A default judgment admits a plaintiff's entitlement to liquidated damages, but not unliquidated damages.
Previewing 2 of 6 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“A defaulting party has a due process entitlement to notice and opportunity to be heard as to the presentation and evaluation of evidence necessary to a judicial determination of the amount of unliquidated damages.”
Establishes the core due process protection that applies to unliquidated damages after a default, requiring opportunity to be heard on the amount of damages
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn 1994, Anne Matejka and Vera Dulaney's parents executed a trust naming all three siblings as beneficiaries. After the parents died in 2006, Vera Dul…
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Of the issues raised by appellants, Anne Matejka and Jean Ceccaldi, in their appeal from the final judgment for damages en*866tered after default, we find only the first has merit. We affirm the others without discussion.
In 1994, the parents of Anne Matejka and Vera Dulaney executed a trust of which Matejka, Dulaney and another sister are beneficiaries. In 2006, after the parents died, Dulaney filed a complaint against Matejka and her husband, Jean Ceccaldi, for a trust accounting. After Matejka and Ceccaldi abandoned their defense of the suit and moved to France, the trial court entered the default judgment in favor of Dulaney. Dulaney then filed a Motion for Final Judgment requesting a specific amount of damages.
On April 17, 2009, Dulaney sent internationally by regular mail a Notice of Final Hearing to be held on June 9, 2009, to Matejka and Ceccaldi. On April 24, 2009, Dulaney sent by regular mail a Re-Notice of Hearing to them which moved the hearing up to May 4, 2009. The hearing was moved up more than a month and the re-notice was mailed to Matejka and Ceccaldi only ten days before the hearing.
Appellants argue that they were not given sufficient notice of the final hearing on damages after the default judgment was entered. Due to the adversarial nature of this trust action, the issue of notice is governed by the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. Fla. Prob. R. 5.025(d)(2) (2006). In Bowman v. Kingsland Development, Inc., 432 So.2d 660 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983), the court held:
A default admits every cause of action that is sufficiently well-pled to properly invoke the jurisdiction of the court and to give due process notice to the party against whom relief is sought. A default also admits the plaintiffs entitlement to liquidated damages due under the pleaded cause of action, but not unliqui-dated damages. Damages are liquidated when the proper amount to be awarded can be determined with exactness from the cause of action as pleaded, i.e., from a pleaded agreement between the parties, by an arithmetical calculation or by application of definite rules of law.... A defaulting party has a due process entitlement to notice and opportunity to be heard as to the presentation and evaluation of evidence necessary to a judicial determination of the amount of unliquidated damages. Protection of this right is provided by Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.080(h)(1) and the last sentence in Rule 1.440(c).
Rule 1.080(h)(1) provides in part: “No service need be made on parties against whom a default has been entered except orders setting an action for trial as prescribed in rule 1.440(c) and final judgments that shall be prepared and served as provided in subdivision (h)(2).” Rule 1.440(c) provides:
(c) Setting for Trial. If the court finds the action ready to be set for trial, it shall enter an order fixing a date for trial. Trial shall be set not less than 30 days from the service of the notice for trial. By giving the same notice the court may set an action for trial. In actions in which the damages are not liquidated, the order setting an action for trial shall be served on parties who are in default in accordance with rule 1.080(a).
As the damages in this case cannot be determined with exactness from the trust agreement, which did not even include the schedule of property to be included, the damages were unliquidated. Appellants have a due process entitlement to not less than thirty days notice under the rules. They were given ten days notice at most. We reverse and remand for a new trial on damages.
*867 Reversed and Remanded for New Trial on Damages.
STEVENSON, HAZOURI and GERBER, JJ., concur.
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Talbot v. Rosenbaum, 142 So. 3d 965 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)…ct appeal, Sanford v. Rubin, 237 So. 2d 134, 137 (Fla.1970), this court may review Talbot’s unliquidated damages argument. Liquidated damages are those that “can be determined with exactness from the cause of action as pleaded.” Matejka v. Dulaney, 40 So. 3d 865, 866 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010) (quoting Bowman v. Kings-land Dev., Inc., 432 So. 2d 660, 662 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983)). “When the complaint alleges only general damages without demanding a specific amount” and a default judgment is entered, “damages are deemed…
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Lynn v. Sakharoff, 82 So. 3d 896 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011)…amages decided by a jury if one was demanded in the complaint, absent a waiver. It is well settled that the entry of a default against a defendant does not deprive such defendant of the right to a hearing on unliquidated damages. Matejka v. Dulaney, 40 So. 3d 865, 866 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). When a jury trial has been demanded by the plaintiff, unless the defendant waives such right, the defendant is entitled to a jury trial on the issue of unliquidated damages. Shasho v. Euro Motor Sport, Inc., 979 So. 2d 343,…
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McMULLEN v. HSBC Bank USA, 149 So. 3d 156 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014)…tice of the summary judgment hearing,1 the trial court erred in not vacating the foreclosure judgment. We reject Appellant’s argument because, as argued by Appellee, HSBC Bank USA, a judicial default was entered in this case. See Matejka v. Dulaney, 40 So. 3d 865, 866 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010) (noting that a default admits every cause of action that is sufficiently well-pled as well as a plaintiffs entitlement to liquidated damages); see also Zumpf v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., 43 So. 3d 764, 766 (Fla. 2d DCA 2…
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