Munao, Munao, Munao v. Homeowners Ass'n

740 So. 2d 73, 1999 WL 492632
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 14, 1999
Docket97-2439, 97-4127
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 740 So. 2d 73 (Munao, Munao, Munao v. Homeowners Ass'n) 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
Munao, Munao, Munao v. Homeowners Ass'n, 740 So. 2d 73, 1999 WL 492632 (Fla. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

740 So.2d 73 (1999)

MUNAO, MUNAO, MUNAO and MUNAO, d/b/a La Buona Vita Mobile Home Park, Appellants,
v.
The HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION OF LA BUONA VITA MOBILE HOME PARK, INC. and Charles Gaito, Appellees.

Nos. 97-2439, 97-4127.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

July 14, 1999.
Rehearing Denied September 24, 1999.

*74 Marjorie Gadarian Graham of Marjorie Gadarian Graham, P.A., Palm Beach Gardens, and J. Allen Bobo of Lutz, Webb, Partridge & Bobo, Sarasota, for appellants.

Basil E. Dalack, West Palm Beach, and Clark, Kranz & Hernandez, Stuart, for appellees.

Carl R. Peterson, Jr. and David D. Eastman of Skelding, Labasky, Corry, Eastman, Hauser, Jolly & Metz, Tallahassee, for Amicus Curiae-Florida Manufactured Housing Association.

Robert S. Cohen of Robert S. Cohen, P.A., Tallahassee, for Amicus Curiae-Federation of Mobile Home Owners of Florida, Inc.

DELL, J.

These consolidated appeals are from a final judgment ordering a rent reduction for owners of mobile homes located in La Buona Vita Mobile Home Park and from a final judgment awarding the Homeowners Association of La Buona Vita Mobile Home Park, Inc. ("Homeowners Association") and individual parties[1] attorney's fees and costs.

*75 The Homeowners Association sued Natale Munao, II, and Natale Munao, III, the owners of La Buona Vita Mobile Home Park, claiming that the rent charged was unconscionable pursuant to section 723.033, Florida Statutes (1989), because appellants reduced the amenities provided to residents of the mobile home park. The Homeowners Association subsequently moved to amend the complaint to change unconscionable to unreasonable so that the complaint would comport with the amended statutory language of section 723.033, Florida Statutes (Supp.1990). The trial court granted the motion to amend.

After a non-jury trial, the court entered an order that, in relevant part, granted appellees' motion to amend the complaint to conform to the evidence presented at trial. The trial court also determined that the unreasonable condition of the mobile home park, rather than comparative rents, entitled appellees to a reduction in rent. On May 23, 1997, the trial court ordered the rents reduced for forty-eight months beginning on June 1, 1993, at the rate of ten dollars per month for each homeowner, which would be paid by reducing future rental payments by ten dollars a month. The court also provided that the ten dollar a month reduction in rent would continue until appellants made certain repairs to the property, including replanting foliage, repairing drainage basins, replacing the pool umbrellas, repainting clubhouse furniture, maintaining the clubhouse air conditioners so that the residents could operate the thermostats and repairing the shuffle-board courts. The court awarded the Homeowners Association attorney's fees and costs as the prevailing party.

On July 10, 1997, the trial court clarified the May 23, 1997 order by stating that the ten dollar reduction in rent would run from July 1997 through June 2001, and that the homeowners could withhold an additional ten dollars per month until appellants satisfied each of the conditions listed in the May 23, 1997 order.

On November 10, 1997, the trial court entered a final judgment awarding the Homeowners Association and Gaito attorney's fees and costs as prevailing parties pursuant to section 723.068, Florida Statutes. The court awarded the Homeowners Association $185,933.91 in attorneys fees, $29,363.90 in costs and $4,225.00 in expert attorney's fees, for a total of $219,522.21. The trial court also awarded the Homeowners Association/Guest Fee Plaintiffs $18,000.00 in attorney's fees and $308.50 in costs, for a total of $18,308.50, and awarded Charles Gaito $11,250.00 in attorney's fees and $815.30 in costs, for a total of $12,065.30. In determining the amount of fees awarded to the Homeowners Association and Homeowners Association/Guest Fee Plaintiffs, the trial court applied a contingency risk multiplier of 1.5.

Appellants contend that the trial court erred in allowing the Homeowners Association to amend its complaint to assert a claim for unreasonable rent because the 1990 amendment to section 723.033, Florida Statutes, was not in effect at the time the residents entered into their rental agreements. Appellants also contend that the trial court applied the wrong legal standard in determining the reasonableness of rents and abused its discretion in permitting amendment of the complaint to assert new claims. Finally, appellants contend that the trial court erred in awarding attorney's fees and costs to appellees and in applying a contingency risk multiplier to the attorney's fees awarded to the Homeowners Association and Homeowners Association/Guest Fee Plaintiffs. We affirm.

First, appellants do not dispute that section 723.033, Florida Statutes (1989), *76 prohibited unconscionable lot rental agreements, and that the 1990 version prohibited unreasonable lot rental agreements. Appellants contend, however, that the 1990 amendment to section 723.033 cannot be applied to this case because it was not in effect at the time the parties executed their lot rental agreements. They argue that the trial court's application of the 1990 amendment affected their substantive rights and impaired their obligations under the rental contracts by altering the unconscionable standard enunciated in prior versions of the statute.

[Chapter 723 was] created for the purpose of regulating the factors unique to the relationship between mobile home owners and mobile home park owners.... It recognizes that when such inequalities exist between mobile home owners and mobile home park owners as a result of such unique factors, regulation to protect those parties to the extent that they are affected by the inequalities, while preserving and protecting the rights of both parties, is required.

Fla. Stat. § 723.004(1).

The object of [chapter 83, the predecessor to chapter 723,] is to ameliorate and correct as far as possible by exercise of the police power what the Legislature has found to be evils inimical to the public welfare in the subject considered. Protection of mobile home owners from grievous abuses by their landlords, or mobile home park owners, was found by the Legislature to be essential.

Stewart v. Green, 300 So.2d 889, 891 (Fla. 1974). See Palm Beach Mobile Homes, Inc. v. Strong, 300 So.2d 881, 884 (Fla. 1974); Aspen-Tarpon Springs Ltd. Partnership v. Stuart, 635 So.2d 61, 67 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994).

In Strong, the Florida Supreme Court harmonized the right to contract and use property with the police power of the state to establish regulations:

The authority of the state through the Legislature to impose reasonable regulations upon mobile homes and mobile home parks is unquestionable under its broad police power in view of the fact that this enterprise peculiarly affects the public interest and bears a substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare.

Strong, 300 So.2d at 884. See Stewart, 300 So.2d at 891; Fla. Stat. § 723.004(1).

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740 So. 2d 73, 1999 WL 492632, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/munao-munao-munao-v-homeowners-assn-fladistctapp-1999.