Dennies Contracting Co. v. Hersh

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Dennies Contracting Co. v. Hersh

702 So. 2d 1381, 1997 Fla. App. LEXIS 14491, 1997 WL 794642

CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida

DecidedDecember 31, 1997

DocketNo. 97-1652

StatusPublished

Cited by1 cases

This text of 702 So. 2d 1381 (Dennies Contracting Co. v. Hersh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Dennies Contracting Co. v. Hersh, 702 So. 2d 1381, 1997 Fla. App. LEXIS 14491, 1997 WL 794642 (Fla. Ct. App. 1997).

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Opinion

SCHWARTZ, C.J.

The appellee Hersh is an architect, who sued the appellant, a roofing contractor, on a claim it had orally agreed that if Hersh recommended it to another architect who was in charge of a large project for the repair of hurricane damage and it eventually got the job, the company would pay Hersh a fee of what was subsequently agreed to be approximately 4% of the contract price. The jury returned a verdict of $138,108.00 for Hersh, and after its post trial motions were denied, the company now appeals from the resulting judgment.

It is clear that the plaintiffs claim is supported by the law, see Monopoly Realty, Inc. v. World Business Brokers, Inc., 562 So.2d 387 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990), and a view of the evidence, primarily Hersh’s own sworn testimony the jury had a right to accept. We confess that we are skeptical as to the accuracy of a finding that a roofer agreed to pay over $138,000.00 merely for suggesting its availability in the post-Andrew era when roofers were almost impossible to come by at any price. Nevertheless, because we cannot in good conscience find that the result is so obviously contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence and the “justice of the cause” as to fall within that narrow class of cases in which an appellate court may grant a new trial notwithstanding the existence of evidence which justifies the verdict, see Branam v. Aqua-Clear Pools, Inc., 672 So.2d 69 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996), we are bound to affirm. See Espino v. Anez, 665 So.2d 1080 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995); Raheb v. Di Battisto, 483 So.2d 475 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). Affirmed.

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SCHWARTZ, C.J.

The appellee Hersh is an architect, who sued the appellant, a roofing contractor, on a claim it had orally agreed that if Hersh recommended it to another architect who was in charge of a large project for the repair of hurricane damage and it eventually got the job, the company would pay Hersh a fee of what was subsequently agreed to be approximately 4% of the contract price. The jury returned a verdict of $138,108.00 for Hersh, and after its post trial motions were denied, the company now appeals from the resulting judgment.

It is clear that the plaintiffs claim is supported by the law, see Monopoly Realty, Inc. v. World Business Brokers, Inc., 562 So.2d 387 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990), and a view of the evidence, primarily Hersh’s own sworn testimony the jury had a right to accept. We confess that we are skeptical as to the accuracy of a finding that a roofer agreed to pay over $138,000.00 merely for suggesting its availability in the post-Andrew era when roofers were almost impossible to come by at any price. Nevertheless, because we cannot in good conscience find that the result is so obviously contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence and the “justice of the cause” as to fall within that narrow class of cases in which an appellate court may grant a new trial notwithstanding the existence of evidence which justifies the verdict, see Branam v. Aqua-Clear Pools, Inc., 672 So.2d 69 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996), we are bound to affirm. See Espino v. Anez, 665 So.2d 1080 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995); Raheb v. Di Battisto, 483 So.2d 475 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). Affirmed.

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702 So. 2d 1381, 1997 Fla. App. LEXIS 14491, 1997 WL 794642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dennies-contracting-co-v-hersh-fladistctapp-1997.

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