Oscar Arano v. Vive Financial, LLC, Etc.

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: August 20, 2025
• Docket: 3D2025-0005
• Status: Published

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed August 20, 2025. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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No. 3D25-0005 Lower Tribunal No. 23-199587-SP-05 ________________

Oscar Arano, Appellant,

vs.

Vive Financial, LLC, etc., Appellee.

An Appeal from the County Court for Miami-Dade County, Ayana Harris, Judge.

Oscar Arano, in proper person.

Lotane & Associates, P.A., and John J. Wilhelm and Jonathon B. Smith (Cocoa), for appellee.

Before LINDSEY, GORDO and LOBREE, JJ.

GORDO, J. Oscar Arano (“Arano”), pro se, appeals a final judgment entered after

a bench trial in favor of Vive Financial, LLC f/k/a HC Processing Center

(“Vive”). We have jurisdiction. Fla. R. App. P. 9.030(b)(1)(A). Arano

challenges the final judgment on several grounds. Because we lack a

transcript of the bench trial that preceded the final judgment, however, we

are unable to evaluate Arano’s claims of error. Thus, we are compelled to

affirm. See Applegate v. Barnett Bank of Tallahassee, 377 So. 2d 1150,

1152 (Fla. 1979) (“In appellate proceedings the decision of a trial court has

the presumption of correctness and the burden is on the appellant to

demonstrate error . . . When there are issues of fact the appellant necessarily

asks the reviewing court to draw conclusions about the evidence. Without a

record of the trial proceedings, the appellate court can not properly resolve

the underlying factual issues so as to conclude that the trial court’s judgment

is not supported by the evidence or by an alternative theory. Without

knowing the factual context, neither can an appellate court reasonably

conclude that the trial judge so misconceived the law as to require reversal.”).

Affirmed.