Lince v. Pelican Circle Association, Inc.

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: October 8, 2025
• Docket: 1D2023-3091
• Status: Published

Opinion

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF FLORIDA _____________________________

No. 1D2023-3091 _____________________________

JAMES G. LINCE,

Appellant,

v.

PELICAN CIRCLE ASSOCIATION, INC., et al.,

Appellees.

_____________________________

On appeal from the Circuit Court for Walton County. David W. Green, Judge.

October 8, 2025

PER CURIAM.

James G. Lince appeals twelve orders and judgments entered by the trial court on his third and fourth amended complaints. We affirm without comment the trial court’s summary final judgment for defendant Charles Harmon entered on November 1, 2023. We similarly affirm the trial court’s amended order of November 16, 2023, granting judgment for defendants Frank Watson and Watson Swell on count XXIV of the fourth amended complaint and denying Lince’s cross-motion for summary judgment. We dismiss the appeal as to the remaining orders because they are not final orders nor are they nonfinal orders appealable under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.130(a)(3) (listing the types of appealable nonfinal orders); Hoffman v. Hall, 817 So. 2d 1057, 1058 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002) (“The traditional test for finality is whether the decree disposes of the cause on its merits leaving no questions open for judicial determination except for execution and enforcement of the decree if necessary.”); Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery, P.A. v. W. Fla. Reg’l Med. Ctr., 993 So. 2d 1060, 1061 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008) (holding that an order that merely grants a motion for summary judgment, without also entering judgment, is not final). They are also not appealable as partial final judgments. Fla. R. App. P. 9.110(k) (explaining that “[a] partial final judgment, other than one that disposes of an entire case as to any party, is one that disposes of a separate and distinct cause of action that is not interdependent with other pleaded claims”).

AFFIRMED, in part, DISMISSED, in part.

LEWIS, ROWE, and WINOKUR, JJ., concur.

Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331. _____________________________

Kristin Matthews and Todd R. Bartos of The Bartos Group, LLC, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Darryl Steve Traylor, Jr. and T.A. Borowski, Jr., Borowski & Traylor, P.A., Pensacola; and Therese A. Savona of Cole, Scott & Kissane, P.A., Orlando, for Appellees.