Hillcrest Pacific Corp. v. Yamamura

727 So. 2d 1053, 1999 WL 89229
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedFebruary 24, 1999
Docket97-3364
StatusPublished
Cited by63 cases

This text of 727 So. 2d 1053 (Hillcrest Pacific Corp. v. Yamamura) 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
Hillcrest Pacific Corp. v. Yamamura, 727 So. 2d 1053, 1999 WL 89229 (Fla. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

727 So.2d 1053 (1999)

HILLCREST PACIFIC CORPORATION, a Florida corporation, and Pacific Atlas Development Corporation, a California corporation, Appellants,
v.
Herbert T. YAMAMURA, Limeco, Inc., a Florida corporation, Terumasa T. Mayama, Apton America, Inc., a California corporation, Kenneth A. Ohara, and New Rex Corporation, a California corporation, Appellees.

No. 97-3364.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

February 24, 1999.

*1054 John H. Pelzer and Sharon Atlas of the Law Office of Ruden, McClosky, Smith, Schuster & Russell, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellants.

Susan H. Aprill of the Law Office of Holland & Knight LLP, Miami, for appellees.

TAYLOR, J.

This appeal of the dismissal of a twelve-count complaint arises from the sale and purchase of a golf course in Broward County, Florida. We affirm the order of dismissal because we find that the appellants failed to state a cause of action for fraud in the inducement, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of the duty of fair and honest dealing, and conspiracy. We further find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the dismissal with prejudice in light of the clear language of the sale and purchase agreement, which contradicted the allegations of the complaint and showed that the appellees did not act as agents for the appellants and did not misrepresent any material facts on which appellants justifiably relied.

In 1990, Pacific Atlas Development Corp. ("Pacific")[1] consulted with Kenneth Ohara, a licensed California real estate salesman, and New Rex Corporation regarding the purchase of a golf course in South Florida. Hollywood Partners, Ltd. ("Seller") owned Hillcrest Country Club and Golf Course (the "Property"), located in Hollywood, Broward County, Florida. Ohara contacted Pacific regarding the potential sale and purchase of the Property, and delivered to Pacific a document entitled "Summary of the Subject Property" (the "Summary"), which was prepared jointly by Ohara, Terumasa Mayama and Herbert Yamamura in English and Japanese.

The Summary stated that the "Proposed Sales Price" of the Property was $9.6 million. It also estimated the Property's annual income and expenses, described the physical facilities and membership, reported the costs of recent renovations, and provided other descriptive data about the Property, including a statement recommending that Pacific purchase the Property to develop its real estate business in South Florida.

After receiving the Summary, in early March 1990, Pacific's president, Yoshio Sawada, met with Ohara, Mayama, and Yamamura ("Appellees") in South Florida. Together they toured the Property and other golf courses in South Florida for comparison purposes. During the meeting, the appellees again told Sawada that the Seller's asking price was $9.6 million. At that time, appellees knew that the Seller had agreed to pay them any amount received from Pacific in excess of $6.2 million as "finder's fees, agency fees, or commissions." This fee or commission agreement was not disclosed to Pacific.

In March of 1990 Pacific expressed its interest in purchasing the Property and negotiated with the Seller's agent, Isidore Jaffe, to purchase the Property for $9.3 million. Subsequently, on April 4, 1990 Pacific and the Seller entered into a Purchase and *1055 Sale Agreement (the "Agreement"), which provided, among other things, that:

1. The buyer could make a full and complete examination and inspection of the Country Club Complex, its use and value;

2. The buyer could inspect the financial records of the Country Club Complex;

3. The buyer could terminate the Agreement "for any reason"—except the Seller's default—after the inspection and before the closing date and receive a full refund of the $500,000 deposit paid plus interest earned;

4. The parties represented and acknowledged that no real estate broker or other person other than the parties to the transaction was responsible for the making of the transaction and that each party would hold the other harmless from any person claiming that it had dealt with the Buyer or the Seller with respect to the transaction and claiming any commission or finder's fee;

5. The Seller acknowledged that it had utilized the services of Gary Baker and agents of Herbert Z. Marvin and that the Seller was solely responsible for consultation fees due to Gary Baker and agents of Herbert Z. Marvin; and

6. The Agreement contained the entire agreement between the parties and merged and extinguished all prior negotiations.

Pacific and the Seller were both represented by legal counsel. On August 1, 1990, one day after the closing, the Seller's attorney disbursed $2.75 million to Marvin, the appellees' attorney. Marvin transferred $2.6 million to Yamamura, who, in turn, transferred $1.85 million to a Japanese bank. Subsequently, in April 1994, an additional fee of $70,000 was released from funds withheld at the closing to Marvin.

Pacific complains that the appellees made written and oral misrepresentations regarding the Seller's $9.6 million asking price and that the "inflated price" was part of appellees' scheme to share in a secret profit from the transaction. Pacific asserts that it would never have purchased the Property for $9.3 million had it known the Seller would have accepted a lesser amount of approximately $6 million. In February 1997, Pacific filed a twelve-count amended complaint against appellees for: fraud in the inducement, breach of duties of fair and honest dealing, breach of fiduciary duties, breach of duty as plaintiff's agents, fraudulent inducement and concealment in a dual agency capacity, breach of duties in a dual agency capacity, and a corresponding conspiracy count to each of the above counts. The trial court dismissed the amended complaint in its entirety for failure to state a cause of action.

Initially, we note that because the issue on appeal concerns the propriety of granting a motion to dismiss, we must treat all allegations of the complaint as true and construe all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Orlando Sports Stadium, Inc. v. State, 262 So.2d 881 (Fla. 1972). Pacific, the plaintiffs below, argue that the amended complaint sufficiently states a claim against the defendants/appellees for fraud in the inducement because it alleges that the appellees made a material misrepresentation when they quoted the "Proposed Sale Price" as $9,600,000, knowing the falsity of that statement, with the intent to induce Pacific to rely on the "inflated price," and that Pacific was injured as a result.

To state a cause of action for fraud in the inducement, a plaintiff must allege the following:

1. A misrepresentation of a material fact;
2. That the representor of the misrepresentation knew or should have known of the statement's falsity;
3. That the representor intended that the representation would induce another to rely and act on it; and
4. That the plaintiff suffered injury in justifiable reliance on the representation.

Lou Bachrodt Chevrolet, Inc. v. Savage, 570 So.2d 306 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990).

The Agreement, which is attached as an exhibit to the amended complaint, is deemed a part of the amended complaint and must be reviewed as such. Rule 1.130(b), Florida Rules Civil Procedure provides that "[a]ny exhibit attached to a pleading shall be considered a part thereof for all purposes." See Ginsberg v. Lennar Florida Holdings, *1056 Inc.,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
727 So. 2d 1053, 1999 WL 89229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hillcrest-pacific-corp-v-yamamura-fladistctapp-1999.