CITY OF CAPE CORAL, A FLORIDA MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
LANDAHL, BROWN & WEED ASSOCIATES, INC., A VIRGINIA CORPORATION, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1985-05-08
No. 84-2240
OTT, A.C.J., and HALL, J., concur.
470 So. 2d 25 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1985) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 cases

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Synopsis

The City of Cape Coral appeals a judgment awarding $266,254 damages to Landahl, Brown & Weed Associates for revocation of building permits. The court reverses, holding that municipalities have sovereign immunity for their discretionary issuance and revocation of permits, and that any remedy must be limited to equitable estoppel claims to acquire or retain the permit itself.


Holding

A municipality has sovereign immunity from damages actions based on the manner in which it exercises its governmental function of issuing or refusing permits. The only available cause of action against a municipality for wrongful refusal or revocation of a building permit is an action to acquire or retain the permit on grounds of equitable estoppel.


Headnotes

[1] A municipality is immune from liability for damages arising from its governmental function of issuing or refusing to issue permits.

[2] A party seeking relief from the wrongful refusal or revocation of a building permit is limited to an action based on equitable estoppel to acquire or retain the permit.

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Key Quotes

“there is no cause of action for the manner in which a municipality exercises its governmental function of issuing or refusing to issue permits”

Establishes the core holding that municipalities have immunity from damages suits based on permit decisions

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Facts & Procedural History

Landahl, Brown & Weed Associates pursued a development project involving high-rise buildings for which Cape Coral issued building permits. During cons…

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Opinion of the Court
CAMPBELL, Judge.

CAMPBELL, Judge.

Appellant, City of Cape Coral, appeals a final judgment which awarded damages of $266,254 to appellee, growing out of the allegations of its fourth amended third party complaint. The record we have is pitifully meager and the issues raised on this appeal do not really address the most glaring defects in appellee’s attempts to state a viable cause of action against appellant. Nevertheless, we conclude the judgment for appellee must be reversed and, on remand, a judgment for appellant shall be entered. We are, to say the least, appalled that the principles of law that require this result are barely touched on in the briefs or in the record below.

The original action below began as a mechanic’s lien action by a contractor against appellee for work performed and materials furnished on a development project that had been undertaken by appel-lee. The original mechanic’s lien complaint sought $7,948.50 in damages for unpaid labor and materials. The development project which appellee was pursuing involved several high rise buildings on sites for which appellant had issued building permits. During the initial phases of construction, it was necessary for appellant to issue several extensions of the building permits. Eventually, the permits were revoked and the project apparently abandoned. No action based on equitable estoppel was ever pursued by appellee in an attempt to salvage the building permits. Apparently, prior to the revocation of the permits, there had been changes in the applicable building code which prevented the development project, at least as originally envisioned. No actions or appeals concerning those building code changes appear to have been pursued.

In its various third party complaints, appellee joined appellant in the action seeking indemnity for any damages it might owe the mechanic’s lien complainant and $10,-000,000 in damages for revocation of the building permits and the subsequent failure of the construction project. Ultimately, the mechanic’s lien complainant and appellee entered into a joint motion for dismissal of that action leaving only the third party actions against appellant.

The third party action went to jury trial as a result of appellee’s fourth amended third party complaint. Appellant filed various motions to dismiss directed to the various third party complaints. Finally, after the dismissal of the original mechanic’s lien action, appellant filed a motion for a judgment on the pleadings. It was at this point, if not before, that the trial judge should have entered judgment for appellant.

It also appears that a motion to dismiss with prejudice should also have earlier been granted. However, we are not sure, because of the meager record, that the proper grounds were presented to the trial judge to support the motions to dismiss. Be that as it may, on the motion for judgment of the pleadings, it should have been clear that there was a failure to state a proper cause of action against the municipal appellant. Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.140(h)(2). Appellant was clearly entitled to a judgment as a matter of law and the motion for judgment on the pleadings should have been granted. Shay v. First Federal of Miami, Inc., 429 So. 2d 64 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). Appellee’s fourth amended third party complaint attempts to state a cause of action against appellant in some seven counts, none of .which will support a claim for damages against this municipal appellant. All of the claims seek damages growing out of the revocation of building permits.

First of all, there is no cause of action for the manner in which a municipality exercises its governmental function of issuing or refusing to issue permits. Trianon Park Condominium Association, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, 468 So. 2d 912 (Fla.1985). Thus, those actions of a municipality are immune from an action for damages. That is not to say, however, that a party does not have a right to relief from the wrongful refusal or revocation of a building permit. That cause of action is limited though to an action to acquire or retain the permit on the grounds of equitable estoppel. Town of Largo v. Imperial Homes Corporation, 309 So. 2d 571 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975).

We, therefore, reverse the judgment entered for appellee in the trial court below, remand and direct entry of a judgment for appellant.

OTT, A.C.J., and HALL, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Huff v. Goldcoast JET SKI Rentals, Inc., 515 So. 2d 1349 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987)
    …el decision and did not subject the City to liability therefor. The City relies upon cases such as Trianon Park Condominium Association v. City of Hialeah, 468 So. 2d 912 (Fla.1985), and City of Cape Coral v. Lan-dahl, Brown & Weed Associates, Inc., 470 So. 2d 25 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985), which stand for the proposition that no cause of action accrues to an injured person against a municipality for exercising the governmental function of issuing a permit or license. Huff contends that the City is liable because i…
  • Paedae v. Escambia Cnty., 709 So. 2d 575 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)
    …ry of damages against a municipality in supplemental proceedings for damages for the denial of a building permit, even though the denial of the permit was found to be arbitrary. Likewise, in City of Cape Coral v. Landahl, Brown & Weed Assocs., Inc., 470 So. 2d 25 (Fla. 2d DCA), rev. denied, 480 So. 2d 1294 (1985), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1010, 106 S.Ct. 3308, 92 L.Ed.2d 721 (1986), the principle of sovereign immunity was applied to bar recovery of money damages against the city for wrongful revocation of a bu…
  • City of Pembroke Pines v. Corr. Corp. of Am., Inc., 274 So. 3d 1105 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019)

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