Halpern v. Retirement Builders, Inc.

507 So. 2d 622, 12 Fla. L. Weekly 980, 1987 Fla. App. LEXIS 7560
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 8, 1987
DocketNo. 4-86-0528
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 507 So. 2d 622 (Halpern v. Retirement Builders, Inc.) 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.

Bluebook
Halpern v. Retirement Builders, Inc., 507 So. 2d 622, 12 Fla. L. Weekly 980, 1987 Fla. App. LEXIS 7560 (Fla. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

GLICKSTEIN, Judge.

This is an appeal of a partial summary final judgment in a class action suit in favor of the defendant. Having duly considered the supplemental briefs we requested of the parties, we find this court has jurisdiction. We reverse and remand with direction to proceed in a manner consistent herewith.

Twelve unit owners in Cresthaven Villas Condominiums, who have held interests in those units in the period since June 4, 1975, have maintained this class action against Retirement Builders, Inc., a management company. Count I of plaintiffs’ amended complaint was a demand for damages for increases in the charges collected by the management company, which increases were determined in a set manner from changes in a particular Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The defendant submitted to the trial court a motion for summary judgment accompanied by a great number of attachments. Among these were affidavits of an attorney and of defendant’s president, and various exhibits, including a summary of the effective dates for management agreements with 35 different condominiums at [623]*623Cresthaven, a representative copy of these agreements, a representative declaration of condominium, a deed form, the buyer’s receipt, approval and ratification form, and a statement of management services.

The trial court granted partial final summary judgment as to Count I of the amended complaint to the defendant. This appeal followed.

Cresthaven consists of some thirty-five condominiums each with its own condominium association. The plaintiffs in the class action are or have been owners of units located in several of these condominiums.

Retirement Builders, Inc. owns five clubhouses and other recreational facilities at Cresthaven. These facilities were built by Retirement Builders, using its own funds and not those of the developer or proceeds from unit sales. Retirement Builders has an agreement with each of the condominium associations, under which Retirement Builders performs the associations' respective management duties. These agreements were executed on various dates from January 10, 1967 to August 30, 1974, and each was for a term of approximately twenty years. There are five groups of seven associations each, known as neighborhoods. The expiration date of the management agreements is the same for all the associations in a neighborhood.

David and Albert Yorra, respectively president and secretary of Retirement Builders, held the same titles in the developer, Cresthaven Enterprises, Inc., which is not a party, and also served as the first officers of each of the condominium associations.

According to the provisions of the membership and use agreement and the management agreement, each unit owner has membership in and the right to use the recreational facilities. There is no lease as such.

The management agreement is attached to and made a part of the declaration of condominium. Paragraph 42 of the management agreement states the declaration and exhibits attached thereto, together with the management agreement, constitute the entire agreement between the parties to the management agreement. Paragraphs 25, 32 and 43 also contain language tying the management agreement and the declaration to each other.

The declaration provides that during the term of the management agreement the management firm will manage the condominium properties, determine the amounts of assessments, and collect the assessments from unit owners; and the management firm may claim a lien against a unit if assessments are not paid. Paragraph VI of the declaration says there shall be no common surplus except as set forth in the documents, including the management agreement. Paragraph 27 of the management agreement provides that the monthly assessment shall never be reduced, but may be increased, during the term of the agreement, and there shall be no common surplus except where otherwise specifically provided in the documents. The only such other specific provision is found in the insurance provisions in Article XII of the declaration. There it is stated that if the insurance proceeds plus any special assessments for repair following a casualty loss exceed the cost of repair, the surplus may be distributed among the beneficial owners.

Paragraph 31 of the management agreement states the bases for annual increases, namely rise in cost of several specific expenditure areas, such as taxes, insurance and labor costs. Paragraph 31(g) allows an increase based on a specified cost of living formula, namely the CPI — United States City Average All Items and Commodity Groups. The sole basis for increase of the charges to unit owners in the period from 1967 through 1980 was this consumer price index (CPI).

The submission statement, which is found in the first article of the declaration of condominium, states that the developer/owner submits the subject realty with its improvements to condominium ownership, “pursuant to the Condominium Act of the State of Florida, F.S. 711 Et Seq. (hereinafter referred to as the “Condominium Act”), and the provisions of said Act are hereby incorporated herein thereby....”

[624]*624The issue restated is whether the trial court erred in granting appellee summary judgment on a claim that the annual escalation of management charges to condominium unit owners violates statutory changes in the Florida Condominium Act adopted subsequently to the condominium declaration, inasmuch as. the declaration adopts subsequent changes; the declaration and the twenty year management agreement each respectively incorporates the other, and the management firm retains all surplus with one unlikely exception. We conclude that it did.

Whether appellee is subject to changes in the Florida Condominium Act made subsequently to the execution of its management agreement(s) depends on whether appellee agreed to the incorporation of subsequent statutory amendments. Such incorporation is, in our opinion, stated in the declaration^) of condominium. The trial court either saw no such incorporation or did not find that the management agreement incorporated the declaration.

Appellants point out paragraph 42 of the management agreements, which is as follows:

This instrument, together with the Declaration of Condominium to which this Agreement is attached, and the Exhibits attached to said Declaration of Condominium, including this Agreement, constitute the entire agreement between the parties hereto, as of the date of execution hereof, and neither has been induced by the other by representations, promises or understandings not expressed herein, and there are no collateral agreements, stipulations, promises or understandings whatsoever, in any way touching the subject matter of this instrument, or the instruments referred to herein, which are not expressly contained therein.

In the declaration of condominium at article I, definition G, appears the following:

Condominium Act, means and refers to the Condominium Act of the State of Florida (F.S. 711 Et Seq.), as the same may be from time to time amended.

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Related

Island Manor Apts. v. Div. of Land Sales
515 So. 2d 1327 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1987)
Kosow v. Condominium Ass'n of Lakeside Village, Inc.
512 So. 2d 349 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
507 So. 2d 622, 12 Fla. L. Weekly 980, 1987 Fla. App. LEXIS 7560, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/halpern-v-retirement-builders-inc-fladistctapp-1987.