Schmeck v. Sea Oats Condo. Ass'n, Inc.

441 So. 2d 1092
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 27, 1983
Docket82-896
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 441 So. 2d 1092 (Schmeck v. Sea Oats Condo. Ass'n, 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
Schmeck v. Sea Oats Condo. Ass'n, Inc., 441 So. 2d 1092 (Fla. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

441 So.2d 1092 (1983)

Donald B. SCHMECK and Gloria Schmeck, His Wife, and Frederick G. Lippold and Janet Lippold, His Wife, Appellants,
v.
The SEA OATS CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., Appellee/Cross-Appellant, and
Sea Oats Developer, Inc., a Florida Corporation, Appellee/Cross-Appellee.

No. 82-896.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

October 27, 1983.
Rehearings Denied December 7, 1983.

*1093 Thomas R. Hess, of Ossinsky, Krol & Hess, Daytona Beach, for appellants.

William G. Norwich, of Gralla & Norwich, Cocoa Beach, for appellee/cross-appellee, Sea Oats Developer, Inc.

James S. Theriac, III, of Holcomb, Theriac & Steinberg, Merritt Island and S. Lindsey Holland, Jr., of Crofton, Holland, Starling, Harris & Severs, P.A., Melbourne, for appellee/cross-appellant.

SHARP, Judge.

Gloria and Donald Schmeck, and Janet and Frederick Lippold, owners of two condominiums in the Sea Oats Condominium, and the Sea Oats Condominium Association, Inc., appeal and cross-appeal from a judgment rendered after a non-jury trial. The lower court denied the condominium unit owners and the association any damages against Sea Oats Developers, Inc., the company that built and sold the condominium, for various construction defects in the *1094 Schmeck and Lippold units and in the common elements; and it mandated that the Schmecks and Lippolds remove shutters from the exterior of their units that they had installed to protect the interiors of their units from water damage. The court also denied the unit owners any remedy against the condominium association. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

It is with great reluctance that we reverse a judgment after a trial on the merits. Such a judgment comes to us as presumptively correct, and we cannot overturn findings of fact where there is conflict in the evidence or testimony.[1] Unfortunately for us the lower court made no findings of fact. That makes our review more difficult because we must look at the whole record and seek to uphold it, if possible, on any theory.

I. Claim of the Condominium Association Against the Unit Owners

This litigation commenced when the association sought an injunction to require the Schmecks and the Lippolds to remove storm shutters they had installed across the exterior of their sliding glass doors and windows on the ocean side of their units. The Schmecks purchased unit 28 in Sea Oats in February of 1979, and the Lippolds purchased unit 22 in the same year. Both purchases were from the developer. The Schmecks' unit was on the top floor, and the Lippolds' unit was on the fourth floor, directly beneath the Schmecks.

The Schmecks and the Lippolds moved into their respective units in June of 1979. From that time, and even at the time of the trial in this case, they experienced severe water damage in their units. Water seeped in through the windows, the doors, and the walls. They complained to the developer, who at least twice tried to remedy the problem by recaulking the walls and window and door frames.

There is conflict in the record whether the unit owners sufficiently notified the association about their problems before the June and July meetings of the association's board in 1980. At the June meeting, they asked the board to allow them to install storm shutters across the exterior of the glass doors facing the balconies of the units. Permission was not granted. Again the record was conflicting as to whether the association agreed to work with the unit owners to get the developer to remedy the problem, and whether the unit owners cooperated with the association on this remedy. Resolving this conflict most favorably to support the judgment, it appears that the Schmecks and the Lippolds did not respond to the association's overtures, and they installed the shutters with full knowledge that they lacked permission to do so.

The installed shutters reduced the water seepage and leakage in both units. The uncontroverted testimony was that the Schmecks spent four thousand one hundred six dollars ($4,106.00), and the Lippolds spent three thousand four hundred eighty-two dollars twenty-five cents ($3,482.25), to repair the woodwork, repaper walls, replace the draperies and upholstery, and refinish and replace ruined furniture. The units were refurnished with approximately the same quality and kind of furnishings as they had originally contained prior to the water problems.

The Sea Oats Declaration of Condominium provides that unit owners may not make any structural modifications or alterations of their units "including ... the installation of awnings, shutters ... and other things which might protrude through or be attached to the walls of the apartment buildings... ."[2] Further, the declaration *1095 clearly defines the balcony areas where the shutters were installed as limited common elements, and the exterior walls where they were attached as common elements.[3] Under the Florida Condominium Law, unit owners are prohibited from making any alterations or additions to the common elements, except in a manner provided by the declaration,[4] and they are required to comply with that statute and the provisions in their declarations.[5] The president of the association testified that the installation of the shutters could have been authorized by a change in the by-laws or declaration. However, no such change was made.

The lower court was correct in concluding that the unit owners violated the provisions of the declaration and the condominium statute by installing the storm shutters on their units, and that they could be required to remove them. Fountains of Palm Beach Condominium, Inc. No. 5 v. Farkas, 355 So.2d 163 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978); Sterling Village Condominium, Inc. v. Breitenbach, 251 So.2d 685 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971). In the Farkas case, an owner built a patio on the common elements, and in Breitenbach, the owners replaced the screens on their porch with glass jalousies. But in neither case did the owner have a compelling reason for doing so, as in this case.

Prior to the trial, the association, the Schmecks and the Lippolds entered into a written stipulation that should have controlled their positions in this case. The stipulation provided:

That the actions and events giving rise to the present lawsuit are primarily the result of the tortious actions of the Sea Oats Developers, Inc., a Florida corporation.
It appears that both the Plaintiff [the Association] and the Defendants [the unit owners] have causes of action against the Sea Oats Developers, Inc., and that amendment of the pleadings making the Sea Oats Developers, Inc. a party defendant, will enable the existing parties to fully adjudicate the matters now in controversy.

In the amended pleadings, both the association and the unit owners claimed the developer had breached its implied warranties with regard to its construction of the common elements and the Schmeck and the Lippold units, causing all of these parties to suffer damages.

The association did not offer any proof that the Schmecks and the Lippolds had not suffered thousands of dollars of damage to their units and furnishings, and their own expert witness testified that the severe water problems suffered by the unit owners were caused by the developer's failure to construct the roof of the building according to plans, and its failure to provide any down-spouts or gutters.

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441 So. 2d 1092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schmeck-v-sea-oats-condo-assn-inc-fladistctapp-1983.