Plain Meaning Rule

2,378 Florida cases classified under this topic · sorted by citation count

• Canal Ins. Co. v. Giesenschlag
  454 So. 2d 88· Fla. 2d DCA· 1984-08-24 ·cited 3×
  Canal Insurance Company appealed a trial court decision reforming its insurance policy to comply with a city ordinance requiring higher coverage limits for taxicabs. The appellate court reversed, holding that the ordinance applied only to taxicab owners and drivers, not insurance
• Homestead Props. v. Sanchoo
  443 So. 2d 442· Fla. 3d DCA· 1984-01-10 ·cited 3×
  Homestead Properties appealed a trial court order awarding the Sanchoos the return of their $10,000 deposit on a residential purchase contract. The appellate court reversed, holding that the mortgage rider's plain language made the buyers qualified for financing despite their fai
• Ruhe v. Robert S. Bergland (now John Block)
  683 F.2d 102· 4th Cir.· 1982-07-19 ·cited 3×
  The court held that the USDA regulation distinguishing between direct cash subsidies and third-party vendor payments for food stamp income computation is consistent with the Food Stamp Act of 1977 and does not violate constitutional due process or equal protection principles.
• Rupert Brown v. LEE Cnty. Mosquito Control Dist. & Chicago Ins. Co.
  352 So. 2d 116· Fla. 2d DCA· 1977-11-16 ·cited 3×
  Brown appeals from summary judgment denying insurance coverage for damages to his cattle caused by the Lee County Mosquito Control District's spraying operations. The court affirmed the denial of coverage under the Aircraft Hull and Liability Policy but reversed and remanded rega
• Braun v. Ins. Co. OF N. Am.
  488 F.2d 1066· 5th Cir.· 1974-01-21 ·cited 3×
  The court held that the exclusionary provision in the insurance policy, which barred recovery for accidents occurring while traveling in a company airplane, was applicable and barred recovery.
• Fla. Ass'n OF Dispensing Opticians v. Fla. State Bd. OF Optometry
  227 So. 2d 736· Fla. 3d DCA· 1969-10-28 ·cited 3×
  The Florida Association of Dispensing Opticians challenged a Board of Optometry ruling that dispensing opticians lack statutory authority to fit, adapt, or adjust contact lenses to patients' eyes. The court affirmed the lower court's judgment, holding that contact lens fitting is
• Brito v. Salas
  434 So. 3d 39· Fla.· 2025-12-30 ·cited 2×
  The Florida Supreme Court held that section 742.14 of the Florida Statutes, which provides for automatic relinquishment of parental rights by donors of reproductive material, applies only when assisted reproductive technology (ART) is involved. Because the child in this case was
• Benshot, LLC v. 2 Monkey Trading, LLC
  142 F.4th 1323· 11th Cir.· 2025-07-09 ·cited 2×
  The Eleventh Circuit held that Section 1192(2) of the Bankruptcy Code, which excepts debts of the kind specified in Section 523(a) from discharge in Subchapter V cases, applies to both individual and corporate debtors.
• Lee v. U.S. Bank Nat'l Ass'n
  102 F.4th 1177· 11th Cir.· 2024-05-23 ·cited 2×
  Patricia Lee mortgaged a 43-acre Georgia property consisting of a residential structure on 2.5 acres and commercial farmland on the remaining acreage, and sought to modify U.S. Bank's mortgage in a chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. The Eleventh Circuit held that the anti-modification p
• City of Miami v. Gabela
  390 So. 3d 65· Fla. 3d DCA· 2023-11-20 ·cited 2×
  The Third District Court of Appeal affirmed a final judgment from the trial court, indicating that a written opinion explaining the reasoning would follow. The specific details of the case and the court's rationale are not yet available in this opinion.
• Casiano v. Casiano
  370 So. 3d 991· Fla. 5th DCA· 2023-07-07 ·cited 2×
  Under Florida Statute § 64.081, every party to a partition action has both a right and responsibility to share in the attorney's fees of all counsel whose work benefits the partition, apportioned by equitable principles, but the trial court's discretionary apportionment decision
• Burt Kroner v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
  48 F.4th 1272· 11th Cir.· 2022-09-13 ·cited 2×
  The court held that 26 U.S.C. § 6751(b) requires supervisory approval of the initial determination of a penalty assessment before the penalty is assessed, but does not require approval before the IRS communicates proposed penalties to the taxpayer. The statute regulates assessmen
• United States v. Pate
  43 F.4th 1268· 11th Cir.· 2022-08-10 ·cited 2×
  Timothy Jermaine Pate filed false retaliatory liens against former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew after they left office, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed his convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 1521, holding that the statute's plain language co
• Millien v. State
  336 So. 3d 354· Fla. 4th DCA· 2022-03-02 ·cited 2×
  The appellate court affirmed the trial court's sentencing decision, holding that while the trial court should have considered the adult-on-minor sentencing multiplier, its failure to do so did not result in an illegal sentence. The court interpreted the statute to mean that if ap
• Garcia v. Junior
  325 So. 3d 220· Fla. 3d DCA· 2021-07-14 ·cited 2×
  Alex Garcia, a 16-year-old with a learner's permit, was charged with four counts of DUI manslaughter after driving his mother's vehicle at excessive speeds and causing a fatal crash that killed four occupants of another vehicle. The trial court ordered pretrial detention, and Gar
• State v. Rachelle Lauriston
  295 So. 3d 281· Fla. 4th DCA· 2020-04-22 ·cited 2×
  Section 414.39(5)(b) requires the state to prove that the value of wrongfully received public assistance aggregated to $200 or more, but less than $20,000 in any 12 consecutive month period; the statute does not require proof that fraud was committed in each of 12 consecutive mon
• Katherine Herman for the Estate of Steve Allen Herman v. Bennett
  2017 WL 3495355· Fla. 1st DCA· 2019-07-23 ·cited 2×
  The three-month limitations period under section 733.702(1) begins to run on the day of the first publication of the notice to creditors, not the day after. A claim filed on April 5th was untimely when notice was first published on January 4th, making the deadline April 4th.
• Orlando Health Cent., Inc. v. Agency For Health Care Admin.
  252 So. 3d 849· Fla. 1st DCA· 2018-08-03 ·cited 2×
  A rule granting challenged Certificate of Need applicants an additional ten days to request a comparative hearing is valid because the legislature's 2004 reenactment of section 408.0455 with unchanged saving language constitutes presumptive adoption of prior administrative interp
• John S. & James L. Knight Found. v. Urban Philanthropies
  248 So. 3d 233· Fla. 3d DCA· 2018-05-23 ·cited 2×
  Summary judgment was improper because conflicting extrinsic evidence and ambiguous documents created a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether the parties intended to create a charitable trust, which is the core allegation underlying all of the Knight Foundation's claims.
• Moriya McNulty v. Bowser
  233 So. 3d 1277· Fla. 5th DCA· 2018-01-05 ·cited 2×
  The Fifth District Court of Appeal reconsidered its precedent in Starkey v. Linn and held that section 742.045, Florida Statutes, authorizes awards of appellate attorney's fees in paternity actions. The court found that the plain language of the statute unambiguously covers appel
• Hurd v. State
  229 So. 3d 876· Fla. 5th DCA· 2017-10-27 ·cited 2×
  Rodney Hurd appeals the summary denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence, challenging the trial court's reclassification of his convictions as felonies under Florida Statute § 775.087(1) based on his use of an automobile as a weapon. The Fifth District Court of Appeal
• City OF Tavares & Gallagher Bassett Serv., Inc. v. Harper
  230 So. 3d 918· Fla. 1st DCA· 2017-10-24 ·cited 2×
  In a workers' compensation case involving a law enforcement officer, the court affirmed that a claimant with hypertension diagnosed in 2016 could invoke the statutory presumption of compensability under Florida's Heart-Lung Statute despite a single elevated blood pressure reading
• Per Jonas Ingvar Gustafsson and Tressa D. Stiles v. AID Auto Brokers, Inc.
  212 So. 3d 405· Fla. 4th DCA· 2017-01-25 ·cited 2×
  Gustafsson and Stiles appealed orders enforcing a Mediated Settlement Agreement against Great American Insurance Company (GAI) for attorney's fees. The court held that GAI was not obligated to pay attorney's fees under the MSA because the fee provision expressly limited recovery
• Wright v. City OF Miami Gardens
  199 So. 3d 381· Fla. 3d DCA· 2016-08-17 ·cited 2×
  James Barry Wright sought emergency injunctive and mandamus relief to be placed on the ballot for Miami Gardens mayor after his qualifying fee check was returned by the bank due to a banking error discovered after the qualifying period ended. The Third District affirmed the trial
• Hester v. Fla. Cap. Grp., Inc.
  189 So. 3d 950· Fla. 2d DCA· 2016-03-30 ·cited 2×
  Daniel Hester appeals a trial court order enforcing a settlement agreement and dismissing his employment-related claims against Florida Capital Group and its officers. The appellate court reversed, holding that the settlement agreement's payment provisions were contingent on regu
• R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Webb
  187 So. 3d 388· Fla. 1st DCA· 2016-03-21 ·cited 2×
  In this tobacco litigation case, R.J. Reynolds challenged enforceability of an attorney's fee agreement after the trial court awarded fees to the opposing party. The court held that the agreement was unenforceable because the plaintiff was not entitled to collect the damages awar
• Ace J. Blackburn, Jr. v. Efrosini Boulis
  184 So. 3d 565· Fla. 4th DCA· 2016-01-20 ·cited 2×
  This probate appeal concerns a surviving spouse's elective share in an estate valued at $12.5 million. The court affirmed the probate court's award of interest on 40% of the elective share but reversed the court's deduction of the personal representatives' attorney fees from the
• Banegas-Membran v. State
  182 So. 3d 865· Fla. 4th DCA· 2016-01-06 ·cited 2×
  Raul Banegas-Membran was convicted of witness tampering under Florida Statute § 914.22(1) for sending a letter to his ex-girlfriend (mother of alleged victim) asking her not to testify against him in sexual abuse charges. The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed his convictio
• Gammage v. State
  181 So. 3d 1256· Fla. 2d DCA· 2015-12-30 ·cited 2×
  Patrick Gammage was convicted of tampering with jurors under Florida Statute § 918.12 for distributing articles about a lying confidential informant to potential jurors before his trial. The appellate court reversed his convictions, holding that the statute prohibits actual influ
• State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. v. Moody
  180 So. 3d 1165· Fla. 4th DCA· 2015-12-09 ·cited 2×
  State Farm appeals summary judgments favoring insureds who claimed their hurricane-caused losses should be covered under general policy provisions rather than a restrictive Hurricane Coverage Endorsement, arguing a tornado (not a hurricane) caused the damage. The Fourth District
• Harrell v. Badger
  171 So. 3d 764· Fla. 5th DCA· 2015-07-24 ·cited 2×
  The Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court judgment discharging a trustee and awarding him attorney's fees, finding that the trustee violated Florida's decanting statute by failing to notify remainder beneficiaries before transferring all trust assets to a pooled s
• State v. Coryon Leairs Nelson
  183 So. 3d 1074· Fla. 5th DCA· 2015-05-08 ·cited 2×
  The State appealed three consolidated cases in which trial courts suppressed drug evidence from traffic stops, holding that Florida Statute 316.125 requires drivers to yield the right-of-way only when vehicular or pedestrian traffic is present. The appellate court reversed, inter
• Yeinson Torres Hurtado and Viviana Hurtado Escobar v. Nigel Desouza
  166 So. 3d 831· Fla. 4th DCA· 2015-04-15 ·cited 2×
  A defendant appealed a $1 million+ judgment in a minor rear-end auto accident case, arguing the trial court improperly admitted prejudicial evidence about mental anguish and financial hardship. The Fourth District reversed and remanded for a new trial under the new harmless error
• Retina-X Studios, LLC v. Advaa, LLC
  26 F. Supp. 270· M.D. Fla.· 2014-09-15 ·cited 2×
  The court adopted the magistrate judge's recommendation to grant Bitex's motion to intervene and ADVAA's motion to set aside default, finding the plaintiff's objections unpersuasive.
• Diaz & Russell Corp. v. Dep't of Bus. & Prof'l Reg.
  140 So. 3d 662· Fla. 3d DCA· 2014-05-28 ·cited 2×
  A licensed general contractor and his company were cited for practicing architecture without proper certification after submitting a design-build proposal where the architect was identified in the drawings submitted to the building department but not in the written proposal itsel
• The Grove AT Harbor Hills Homeowners v. Harbor Hills Dev.
  158 So. 3d 611· Fla. 5th DCA· 2013-12-13 ·cited 2×
  Two adjacent homeowners associations dispute a joint use agreement governing a shared gate and road. The appellate court affirmed that the agreement is valid and not terminable at will, and that Harbor Hills is entitled to maintenance cost damages, but reversed on the issue of co
• Metropcs Wireless, Inc. v. State of Fla. & Rafael Andres
  120 So. 3d 1271· Fla. 3d DCA· 2013-09-18 ·cited 2×
  MetroPCS Wireless sought a writ of certiorari to quash a trial court order requiring an out-of-county witness employee to be deposed in Miami-Dade County rather than in his county of residence (Polk County). The Florida Third District Court of Appeal granted the petition, holding
• T.K. v. State
  125 So. 3d 970· Fla. 4th DCA· 2013-06-12 ·cited 2×
  The court held that the offense of aggravated fleeing and eluding, as charged and under the facts presented, does not constitute a 'violent second degree felony' for the purpose of risk assessment scoring for juvenile detention.
• Am. Atl. Transmission v. Nice CAR, Inc.
  112 So. 3d 639· Fla. 4th DCA· 2013-04-24 ·cited 2×
  America Atlantic Transmission appeals a contempt order for refusing to release a vehicle to Nice Car, Inc., a lien holder who posted a bond under Florida law. The court reverses, holding that only the vehicle owner—not other lien holders—may post a bond to recover possession of a
• Leon v. First Liberty Ins.
  308 F. Supp. 2d 236· M.D. Fla.· 2012-11-06 ·cited 2×
  The court held that the defendant met its burden to establish diversity jurisdiction, as the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000 and complete diversity of citizenship existed.
• Addie L. Greene v. Clemens
  98 So. 3d 791· Fla. 1st DCA· 2012-10-19 ·cited 2×
  The court affirmed the circuit court's decision in an election contest, holding that the circuit court properly limited its review of rejected absentee ballots to comparing signatures on voter certificates with registration records, as mandated by Florida Statute § 102.168(8), an
• RSC Corp. v. HERTZ Vehicles, LLC
  90 So. 3d 358· Fla. 5th DCA· 2012-06-22 ·cited 2×
  RSC Corporation appealed an order requiring it to release a towed vehicle to Hertz after the vehicle had already been sold at auction. The court affirmed that RSC failed to comply with statutory notice requirements under section 713.78, Florida Statutes, but reversed the order re
• Vida Baptista v. PNC Bank
  91 So. 3d 230· Fla. 5th DCA· 2012-06-22 ·cited 2×
  A Florida appellate court reversed summary judgment in a class action lawsuit against PNC Bank for charging a $5 check-cashing fee. The court held that Florida Statute § 655.85, which requires banks to settle checks at par value, applies to individual check-cashing transactions a
• Alisha Tucker v. Liebknecht
  86 So. 3d 1240· Fla. 5th DCA· 2012-05-04 ·cited 2×
  Tucker appeals from a temporary injunction preventing her from relocating her minor child more than 50 miles from their current residence without the child's father's consent or court approval. The dispute centers on whether the 50-mile distance restriction in their Mediated Pate
• Micjo, Inc. v. Dep't of Bus. & Prof'l Reg.
  78 So. 3d 124· Fla. 2d DCA· 2012-02-01 ·cited 2×
  Micjo, Inc. appeals an administrative tax assessment requiring it to pay additional Florida excise taxes on hookah tobacco based on the Department's interpretation that 'wholesale sales price' includes all invoice charges. The court reverses, holding that 'wholesale sales price'
• Irvin v. Irvin
  76 So. 3d 1021· Fla. 2d DCA· 2011-12-07 ·cited 2×
  A former wife appealed the trial court's denial of her contempt motion against her ex-husband for failure to pay child support and the court's enforcement of a second mediation agreement that divested her of her share of settlement funds. The appellate court reversed, holding tha
• Edward T. Byrd & Co., Inc. v. WPSC Venture I
  66 So. 3d 979· Fla. 5th DCA· 2011-06-24 ·cited 2×
  Byrd sought a mortgage brokerage fee for obtaining a loan commitment for WPSC, but the parties disputed whether the fee was due when the loan did not close. The court affirmed summary judgment for WPSC, holding that under the Mortgage Brokerage and Mortgage Lending Act, a 'borrow
• S.P.M. v. State
  66 So. 3d 317· Fla. 2d DCA· 2011-06-15 ·cited 2×
• Clark v. State
  58 So. 3d 401· Fla. 1st DCA· 2011-04-14 ·cited 2×
  The court held that the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction for possession of burglary tools because it did not demonstrate that the tools were used or intended to be used to gain access to the building.
• Banton v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.
  54 So. 3d 1062· Fla. 3d DCA· 2011-02-23 ·cited 2×
  Andre Banton appealed a summary judgment denying his insurance claim for a stolen vehicle. State Farm denied coverage based on alleged non-payment of premium and claimed it had cancelled the policy. The court reversed, holding that statutory notice requirements for policy cancell