Lennox Retail, Inc. v. McMillan

786 So. 2d 1252, 2001 Fla. App. LEXIS 8082, 2001 WL 667679
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 2001
DocketNo. 5D00-2377
StatusPublished

This text of 786 So. 2d 1252 (Lennox Retail, Inc. v. McMillan) 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
Lennox Retail, Inc. v. McMillan, 786 So. 2d 1252, 2001 Fla. App. LEXIS 8082, 2001 WL 667679 (Fla. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

SAWAYA, J.

Lennox Retail, Inc., Service Experts, Inc. and Safari Services, Inc. [the Corporations] appeal a non-final order granting John McMillan and Robert Marcelle’s [the Appellees] motion to dissolve a prejudgment writ of replevin. We have jurisdiction pursuant to rule 9.130(3)(C)(ii), Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure.

In February and June of 1999, the Corporations purchased the existing air-conditioning businesses of Appellee McMillan and Appellee Marcelle, respectively. Subsequent to the sales, the Appellees entered into employment and non-compete agreements with the Corporations. Approximately one year later, the Corporations terminated their employment. Sometime thereafter, the Appellees formed a competing air-conditioning business.

In May 2000, the Appellees brought suit against the Corporations alleging defamation and breach of contract for failure to pay unpaid salary, bonus and severance pay and seeking injunctive relief and a declaratory judgment that the non-compete agreements are unenforceable. The Corporations filed a pleading entitled, “Defendants’ Answer, Affirmative Defenses, [1254]*1254and Counterclaims.” Despite the title, it is undisputed that the pleading failed to assert any counterclaims. Nevertheless, in July 2000, without leave of court, the Corporations submitted a “Verified Counterclaim” and a motion for a prejudgment writ of replevin. Notably, the verification in the counterclaim was neither notarized nor declared to be made under penalties of perjury.

On the same day the Verified Counterclaim was filed, the trial court, at a non-evidentiary, ex-parte hearing, heard the Corporations’ motion for prejudgment writ of replevin. With the Corporations’ attorney sitting in its lobby, the trial court entered an order granting the writ. Armed with the ex-parte writ, approximately six of the Corporations’ employees and a Sheriffs deputy descended upon the Appellees’ new place of business. After spending nearly six hours on the premises, the Corporations’ employees left with more than 30,000 documents.

The Appellees filed a motion to dissolve the writ. An emergency hearing was held in August 2000. At the hearing, the Ap-pellees asserted that the Verified Counterclaim was a legal nullity and that the writ should be dissolved because the counterclaim was not verified or sworn to. The trial court took those issues under advisement and then heard testimony from Dawn Caldwell [Caldwell], the individual who signed the alleged Verified Counterclaim.

The testimony of Caldwell established that she believed that documents were being concealed or otherwise hidden by the Appellees. On cross-examination, however, Caldwell did admit that certain documents, similar to those documents sought by the writ of replevin, had been moved by the Corporations from their office to the ° office occupied by Appellee Marcelle prior to his termination. The documents were moved to Appellee Marcelle’s office while some remodeling was taking place at the Corporations’ office.

Thereafter, the hearing ended for the day. When the hearing resumed the following day, the trial court, without entertaining further testimony on the matter, entered an order dissolving the writ. In entering the order, the trial court concluded that the counterclaim was unverified and filed without leave of court and, therefore, there was no verified petition pending upon which the writ could be issued.

On appeal, the Corporations contend that the trial court erred in dissolving the writ because: (1) the trial court refused to allow the Corporations an opportunity to present additional evidence to support the allegations contained in the alleged Verified Counterclaim; and (2) the facts alleged in their counterclaim, as well as the limited testimony presented at the hearing, provided a sufficient basis for issuance of the writ. Because we conclude that the writ was erroneously granted, we find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the Appellees’ motion to dissolve. See Allstar Builders Corp., Inc. v. Zimmerman, 699 So.2d 257 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997) (“The trial court did not abuse its discretion in dissolving the writ.”). We, therefore, affirm the order under review.

The provisions contained in section 78.068, Florida Statutes (1999) were enacted “in 1976 apparently to provide an additional creditor’s remedy to the general revision of the law of replevin enacted in 1973 (Chapter 73-20, Laws of Florida, 1973).” Weigh Less for Life, Inc. v. Barnett Bank of Orange Park, 399 So.2d 88, 89 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). Subsequent to the enactment of section 78.068, the courts became concerned with whether this statute violated the due process rights of those who suffered imposition of the writ by an adverse party who took possession of the [1255]*1255property subject to the writ. This issue was addressed by the court in Gazil, Inc. v. Super Food Services, Inc., 356 So.2d 312 (Fla.1978), which applied the “totality test” enunciated in Mitchell v. W.T. Grant Co., 416 U.S. 600, 94 S.Ct. 1895, 40 L.Ed.2d 406 (1974)1 to its assessment of whether section 78.068 adequately protected due process. In Mitchell, the United States Supreme Court examined a Louisiana statute which allowed a mortgage or lien holder to obtain a writ of sequestration to forestall waste or alienation of encumbered property on an ex parte application. The Court held that the statute comported with due process because, as a whole, the statute adequately protected the parties’ interests. Id.

In Gazil, the Florida Supreme Court found that section 78.068 contains adequate due process protection because:

(1) the law requires plaintiffs to show facts indicating a right to the property sought to be replevied, and the allegations must be verified;
(2) an application for replevin without notice must be presented to a judge, as opposed to a ministerial court official;
(3) the facts alleged must show the necessity for replevin, which is sufficiently shown if the debtor is in possession of the property and the applicant establishes that there is a possibility of waste, concealment or transfer of the property, or that the debtor is in default on his payments;
(4) the plaintiff must post a bond to protect the debtor from mistaken repossession; and
(5) the debtor must be entitled to an immediate hearing on the issue of possession.

Gazil, 356 So.2d at 313 (footnote omitted). Because all of the protections provided by the statute sufficiently balanced the parties’ interests, the court found the statute to be constitutional pursuant to the dictates of Mitchell. Thus compliance with all of the requirements is necessary to ensure due process to the party adversely affected by issuance of the writ.

Appellees argue that the trial court erred in initially issuing the writ because the Corporations did not comply with section 78.068 by filing a verified petition or separate affidavit that demonstrated the nature of the claim and the grounds relied on for issuance of the writ. Sections 78.068(1) and (2) specifically provide:

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Related

Mitchell v. W. T. Grant Co.
416 U.S. 600 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Kalman v. World Omni Financial Corp.
651 So. 2d 1249 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1995)
Weigh Less for Life, Inc. v. Barnett Bank
399 So. 2d 88 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1981)
Prestige Rent-A-Car v. ADVANTAGE CAR
656 So. 2d 541 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1995)
Zuckerman v. Professional Writers of Florida, Inc.
398 So. 2d 870 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1981)
Gazil, Inc. v. Super Food Services, Inc.
356 So. 2d 312 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1978)
Allstar Builders Corp. v. Zimmerman
699 So. 2d 257 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
786 So. 2d 1252, 2001 Fla. App. LEXIS 8082, 2001 WL 667679, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lennox-retail-inc-v-mcmillan-fladistctapp-2001.