Sauder v. HARBOUR CLUB COND. NO THREE, INC.

346 So. 2d 556
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 20, 1977
Docket76-1307
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 346 So. 2d 556 (Sauder v. HARBOUR CLUB COND. NO THREE, INC.) 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
Sauder v. HARBOUR CLUB COND. NO THREE, INC., 346 So. 2d 556 (Fla. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

346 So.2d 556 (1977)

K.D. SAUDER et al., Appellants,
v.
HARBOUR CLUB CONDOMINIUM NO. THREE, INC., Appellee.

No. 76-1307.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

April 15, 1977.
As Corrected On Denial Of Rehearing May 20, 1977.

*557 John S. Wagstaff, of Phillips, McFarland, Gould, Wilhelm & Wagstaff, P.A., Clearwater, and Adrian S. Bacon, of Bacon & Hanley, St. Petersburg, for appellants.

John T. Blakely, of Johnson, Blakely & Pope, P.A., and Robert R. Tench, Clearwater, for appellee.

GRIMES, Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment cancelling a common and recreation areas use agreement between a condominium association and the developers.

In order to understand this complex litigation, it is necessary to recount the facts in some detail. The appellants (developers) *558 purchased a tract of waterfront land in Pinellas County. They conveyed portions of the land to three separate corporations of which they were the sole stockholders. Condominium buildings were built on each of the three parcels called respectively Harbour Club Condominiums No. One, Two and Three. Declarations of condominium ownership were filed with respect to each of the condominiums. The developers also organized three nonprofit corporations named Harbour Club Condominium No. One, Inc., Harbour Club Condominium No. Two, Inc. and Harbour Club Condominium No. Three, Inc., the members of which would consist of the unit owners in each of the condominiums.

The developers then entered into a service contract with each of the condominium associations in which it was agreed that for a stated fee the developers would provide specifically enumerated maintenance services for the benefit of the condominium. The developers also entered into separate common and recreation areas use agreements with each of the condominium associations, the terms of which will be discussed later. The various units in the condominiums were then purchased by those who became the members of the condominium associations pursuant to contracts which stated that the purchasers were subject to the provisions of the applicable service contract and common and recreation areas use agreement.

The total property included substantial landscaped areas, a swimming pool and shuffleboard courts. There was a recreation room in both Harbour Club Condominium No. One and Harbour Club Condominium No. Two but no recreation room in Harbour Club Condominium No. Three. It was contemplated by the developers that the residents of Harbour Club No. Three would use the recreation rooms in the other two condominium buildings. Accordingly, the three declarations of condominium provided that all common and recreation areas including those located within buildings were available to all the residents of the Harbour Club regardless of the building which they occupied. Some time thereafter, the owners of two units in Harbour Club Condominium No. Two brought suit against the developers and their development corporation seeking to quiet title to the recreation room in their condominium (suit 1).

The court held that the failure in the condominium documents to assign to the recreation room a percentage or fractional share of the common elements was a fatal defect in attempting to create the recreation room as a condominium unit subject to private ownership. Thus, the court held the recreation room to be part of the common elements which are fractionally owned by the various residents of Harbour Club Condominium No. Two and cancelled the purported conveyance of the recreation room back to the developers. This ruling was affirmed by our court in Daytona Development Corporation v. Bergquist, 308 So.2d 548 (Fla.2d DCA 1975).

In the meantime, Harbour Club Condominium No. Three brought this suit against the developers seeking to cancel its service agreement and common and recreation areas use agreement (suit 2). Then Harbour Club Condominium No. Two brought suit against the developers to cancel the service agreement and common and recreation areas use agreement applicable to that condominium (suit 3). Suits 2 and 3 were at first consolidated but they were later severed over the developers' objections. Following the taking of testimony in suit 2, the court held that the plaintiff had failed to carry its burden of proof with respect to the cancellation of the service contract. However, the court construed the common and recreation areas use agreement to be equivalent to a lease and ordered it to be cancelled. The court reasoned that because the developers did not own the recreation room in Harbour Club Condominium No. Two they were in no position to lease it and that since the recreation room was such a significant portion of the total recreation areas, the agreement must fall in its entirety. The developers appeal that aspect of the judgment *559 and also appeal the division of the monies which were paid under the common and recreation areas use agreement into the registry of the court during the pendency of the suit.

At the outset, the effect of suit 1 upon this case must be considered. While that suit held that the unit owners in Harbour Club Condominium No. Two, rather than the developer, held title to the recreation room, it did not pass upon the validity of the common and recreation areas use agreement applicable to that condominium. The question of whether the unit owners in Harbour Club Condominium No. Two had the right to use their recreation room to the exclusion of any of the other residents of the Harbour Club was never placed in issue. Therefore, as to that point there could be no estoppel by judgment. Gordon v. Gordon, 59 So.2d 40 (Fla. 1952). Moreover, the Harbour Club Condominium No. Three, Inc. was not a party to suit 1, so the identity of parties necessary to the application of res judicata or estoppel by judgment was not present. Matthews v. Matthews, 133 So.2d 91 (Fla.2d DCA 1961); Smith v. United Services Automobile Association, 259 So.2d 501 (Fla.1st DCA 1972).

We cannot quarrel with the court's observation that many of the provisions in the common and recreation areas use agreement resemble a lease. However, this agreement ought not be construed in a vacuum but should be considered in light of any other pertinent documents and the circumstances surrounding the parties. Blackhawk Heat. & P. Co., Inc. v. Data Lease Fin. Corp., 302 So.2d 404 (Fla. 1974); Quarngesser v. Appliance Buyers Credit Corp., 187 So.2d 662 (Fla.3d DCA 1966). Thus, paragraph 4.10 of each of the declarations of condominium defining "common and recreation areas" states:

"Those portions of the Harbour Club project whether specifically included in a building or being portions of the ground or improvements thereon outside the dedicated condominium parcel, title of which has been retained by the Developer, or others, and the use of which has been made available to all of the residents of the Harbour Club regardless of the building they occupy, said use being pursuant to either the Common and Recreation Areas Use Agreement or the Service Contract to the extent that either is applicable." (Emphasis supplied.)

Paragraph 4 of the common and recreation areas use agreements for all three condominiums reads as follows:

"(4) Overall Development Plan.

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Related

DAYTONA DEVELOPMENT CORP v. McFarland
505 So. 2d 464 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1987)
Stroshein v. Harbour Hall Inlet Club II Condominium Ass'n
418 So. 2d 473 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1982)
Berman v. Gurwicz
458 A.2d 1311 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1981)
Harbour Club Condominium No. Three, Inc. v. Sauder
380 So. 2d 449 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1979)

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Bluebook (online)
346 So. 2d 556, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sauder-v-harbour-club-cond-no-three-inc-fladistctapp-1977.