Malkus v. Gaines

434 So. 2d 957
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 14, 1983
Docket82-486, 82-1333
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 434 So. 2d 957 (Malkus v. Gaines) 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
Malkus v. Gaines, 434 So. 2d 957 (Fla. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

434 So.2d 957 (1983)

Charles J. MALKUS, Appellant,
v.
Steven Robert GAINES, Appellee.

Nos. 82-486, 82-1333.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

June 14, 1983.
Rehearing Denied August 10, 1983.

*958 Daniels & Hicks and Elizabeth K. Clarke, Miami, Thomas L. David, Coral Gables, for appellant.

Horton, Perse & Ginsberg and Edward Perse, Miami, for appellee.

Before BARKDULL, HUBBART and JORGENSON, JJ.

BARKDULL, Judge.

By these consolidated appeals, the defendant in the trial court seeks review of a final judgment which reads in part as follows:

THIS CAUSE came on for trial before the Court, both sides having waived jury trial, and the Court having heard the evidence, having examined the documents introduced by the parties, and being otherwise duly advised, makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:
1. This Court has jurisdiction of the parties and the subject matter of this action.
2. Plaintiff, STEVEN ROBERT GAINES, and Defendant, CHARLES J. MALKUS, are partners in Kendall-Continental, Ltd., a Florida limited partnership (herein the "Partnership").
3. The Partnership owns the Continental Gardens Apartments, a Two Hundred Eight (208) unit rental complex located at 7941 S.W. 104 Street, Miami, Florida, having acquired same in October of 1978.
4. In August of 1978, Defendant MALKUS induced Plaintiff GAINES to agree to make a One Hundred Eighty Thousand and No/100 Dollar ($180,000.00) cash investment in the Partnership by representing to GAINES that MALKUS was making an identical cash investment, and by further representing that the total purchase price of the Continental Gardens Apartments to the Partnership would be Four Million One Hundred Fifty Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($4,150,000.00).
5. At the time, MALKUS knew that the representations made to GAINES were untrue, and knew and intended that GAINES rely upon same in making the investment. GAINES did rely on the aforementioned representations in acquiring his Partnership interest.
6. MALKUS did not invest One Hundred Eighty Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($180,000.00) for his sixty percent (60%) interest in the Partnership. His total investment was One Hundred Seventeen Thousand Two Hundred Fifty and No/100 Dollars ($117,250.00).
7. MALKUS accomplished this ruse by exacting a Sixty-Two Thousand Two Hundred Fifty and No/100 Dollar ($62,250.00) rebate from the broker involved, and by advising GAINES that he had merely borrowed the money from the broker, agreeing to repay it within a *959 short period of time. MALKUS had, in fact, not borrowed the money, nor has he ever paid it back. The broker testified at trial that MALKUS had no obligation to repay the Sixty-Two Thousand Two Hundred Fifty and No/100 Dollars ($62,250.00).
8. MALKUS never permitted GAINES or the Partnership to share in the Sixty-Two Thousand Two Hundred Fifty and No/100 Dollar ($62,250.00) rebate, nor did he ever acknowledge its existence as a rebate until it was ultimately uncovered in an audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
9. A fiduciary relationship existed between MALKUS and GAINES, both at the time that MALKUS misrepresented his proposed investment in the Partnership to GAINES, and at the time that MALKUS received the rebate from the broker.
10. MALKUS committed a willful and flagrant breach of his fiduciary obligations to GAINES in misrepresenting his investment in the Partnership and in receiving the secret rebate from the broker.
11. MALKUS defrauded GAINES by misrepresenting his investment in the Partnership so as to induce GAINES to invest One Hundred Eighty Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($180,000.00) for a forty percent (40%) interest in the Partnership.
12. MALKUS converted monies belonging to the Partnership by accepting a Sixty-Two Thousand Two Hundred Fifty and No/100 Dollar ($62,250.00) rebate from the broker in that such monies rightfully constituted Partnership property.
13. MALKUS acquired his interest in the Partnership through fraud and deceit, and in large part by using monies contributed by his partner. MALKUS had insufficient funds to make his required cash capital contribution at the inception of the Partnership, and therefore embarked upon a scheme to defraud GAINES and use Partnership assets to acquire a sixty percent (60%) interest in the Partnership.
14. MALKUS was under a duty to fully and fairly disclose to GAINES every material fact which might in any way influence his judgment, and his failure to do so, by his withholding of material information from GAINES, operated as a legal or constructive fraud against GAINES.
15. MALKUS was not a licensed real estate broker at the time he received the commission rebate, and his acceptance of a rebate from the broker violated the statutes and regulations of the State of Florida and of the Florida Real Estate Commission.
16. MALKUS undertook an elaborate scheme to avoid disclosure of the true nature of his investment, and of the rebate, hiding same from his partner, the Partnership's attorneys, the Partnership's auditors, and the Internal Revenue Service, and by representing to PYMS-SUCHMAN Real Estate Company that he had not received a commission on the transaction.
17. MALKUS was a salesman for PYMS-SUCHMAN Real Estate Company when he accepted the commission rebate from the broker in October of 1978. He was obligated to share the rebate with that firm. MALKUS never disclosed the rebate to PYMS-SUCHMAN, nor did he ever share the commission with them.
18. GAINES had the right to rely upon representations made to him by his partner, and had no duty to investigate their accuracy. Indeed, MALKUS urged GAINES not to become involved in an investigation with respect to the acquisition of the property, representing that he was an employee of the selling entity and fully familiar with each and every aspect of the proposed transaction.
19. MALKUS misrepresented the true purchase price of the Continental Gardens Apartments to GAINES by failing to advise him that it had been indirectly reduced by the sum of Sixty-Two Thousand Two Hundred Fifty and No/100 Dollars ($62,250.00).
*960 20. The actions of MALKUS in misrepresenting his investment in the Partnership, and in receiving a secret rebate from the broker, constituted a willful and flagrant breach of the warranties and representations given by MALKUS to GAINES, which warranties and representations are set forth in Exhibit "B" to the Partnership Agreement of Kendall-Continental, Ltd.
21. GAINES first became fully cognizant of the aforementioned breaches of representations and warranties on December 22, 1980, at which time the true facts concerning the brokerage transaction were disclosed to the IRS by Defendant's attorney.
22. MALKUS was not living at 14621 S.W. 78 Avenue, Miami, Florida, in December of 1980. Said address was the only address provided in the Partnership Agreement for the providing of formal notices to MALKUS concerning Partnership business.

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434 So. 2d 957, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/malkus-v-gaines-fladistctapp-1983.