Telephone Operating Systems, Inc. v. Peoples Telephone Co.

831 F. Supp. 840, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11914, 1993 WL 326174
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedAugust 17, 1993
DocketNo. 92-2687-CIV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 831 F. Supp. 840 (Telephone Operating Systems, Inc. v. Peoples Telephone Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Telephone Operating Systems, Inc. v. Peoples Telephone Co., 831 F. Supp. 840, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11914, 1993 WL 326174 (S.D. Fla. 1993).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

JAMES LAWRENCE KING, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court on Defendant Peoples Telephone Company, Inc.’s Motion For Summary Judgment Or, In The Alternative, For Partial Summary Judgment, filed on January 8, 1993. Plaintiff Telephone Operating Systems, Inc., on March 22 filed a Memorandum In Opposition To Defendant’s Motion For Summary Judgment. Defendant on June 2 replied in its Brief In Response To Plaintiffs Memorandum In Opposition To Defendant’s Motion For Summary Judgment.

In its Complaint, Telephone Operating Systems (“TOPS”) charges Peoples Telephone Company (“PEOPLES”) with tortious interference with contract, tortious interference with advantageous business relations, conversion, and trespass as to personal property. In its Motion for Summary Judgment, PEOPLES contends that there exists no genuine issue of material fact as to any of these charges. More precisely, PEOPLES does not state that the parties agree on all material facts; rather it contends that there is no evidence in the record to support the version of the facts proposed by TOPS. [843]*843TOPS vigorously disagrees with PEOPLES’ assessment of the evidence in the record and with the legal conclusions drawn by PEOPLES from that evidence.

A Standard of Proof

Summary judgment is appropriate only if “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). “The party seeking summary judgment bears the exacting burden of demonstrating that there is no dispute as to any material fact in the ease.” Warrior Tombigbee Transp. Co. v. M/V Nan Fung, 695 F.2d 1294, 1296 (11th Cir.1983) (citations omitted). “In assessing whether the movant has met this burden, the courts should view the evidence and all factual inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion.” Clemons v. Dougherty County, Ga., 684 F.2d 1365, 1368 (11th Cir.1982) (citation omitted). Although it is incumbent upon the responding party to “set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e), “[t]he burden on the nonmoving party is not a heavy one; he simply is required to show specific facts, as opposed to general allegations, that present a genuine issue worthy of trial.” 10A Charles A. Wright, et ah, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2727 (1983) (citing First Nat’l Bank of Am. v. Cities Serv. Co., 391 U.S. 253, 289-290, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 1593, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968)). The responding party may not need to introduce an affidavit or other evidence to counter a motion for summary judgment when the moving party has not met its initial burden of establishing the absence of a disputable material fact. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 160-161, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1610, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970).

It should be noted additionally that in contract cases, “summary judgment may be inappropriate when there is a factual dispute regarding the existence of a valid and binding agreement, or the scope of an agreement, as, for example, who is bound by it.” Wright, et ah, supra, at § 2730.1 (footnotes omitted). Furthermore, where the legal issues can be intelligently resolved only upon a more fully developed record, “an appraisal of the legal issues may lead a court to exercise its discretion and deny summary judgment in order to obtain the fuller factual foundation afforded by a plenary trial.” Id., at § 2728; Anthony Grace & Sons, Inc. v. U.S., 345 F.2d 808, 810, 170 Ct.Cl. 688 (1965).

The case before the Court is a complicated mix of purported contracts among two providers of pay telephones and two franchises of general stores. The number of contracts at issue ranges from three (only the three PEOPLES-Sunshine contracts) to eight (those three, plus a series of six-month TOPS-Sunshine contracts, two five-year TOPS-Sunshine contracts applicable to the Waldo and MaeClenny stores, a one-year (possibly automatically renewable) TOPS-Sunshine contract, and a TOPS-Sunshine agreement to provide service to over 100 existing Sunshine stores), depending upon which party’s memoranda one is reading.

B. Tortious interference with contractual or business relations

In order for TOPS to make out an actionable claim for tortious interference of contractual or business relations, it must show that (1) TOPS had business relationships with Sunshine and/or Wayfara, not necessarily evidenced by an enforceable contract, (2) PEOPLES had knowledge of TOPS’ business relationships with Sunshine and/or Wayfara at the time of the acts complained of, (3) PEOPLES intentionally and unjustifiably interfered with TOPS’ relationships with Sunshine and/or Wayfara, and (4) TOPS was damaged by breach of the relationships. See MD Assoc. v. Friedman, 556 So.2d 1158, 1159 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1990). Thus, in order to prevail in its motion for summary judgment, PEOPLES must show that there exists no genuine issue of material fact .with respect to at least one of these four elements as regards each of the two franchises, Sunshine and Wayfara.

(1) Did TOPS have a business relationship with Sunshine and/or Wayfara, not necessarily evidenced by an enforceable contract?

PEOPLES asserts that there is no evidence in the record, in the form of affida[844]*844vits or documents, to support the existence of a business relationship with Sunshine and/or Wayfara at the time of the acts complained of. The issue of whether the TOPS contracts were enforceable - at the time PEOPLES committed the acts of which TOPS complains is hotly contested. However, there is clearly sufficient evidence in the record to support the existence of a business relationship between TOPS and each of these entities, regardless of the enforceability of the contracts.

a. TOPS-Sunshine Relationship

In its motion for summary judgment, PEOPLES argues that the TOPS-Sunshine relationship had terminated on November 30, 1990 (the date PEOPLES asserts the contract expired by its own terms), or on January 15, 1991 (the date, after the first one-year period when Sunshine’s representative notified TOPS of its desire to terminate relations), or on November 30, 1991 (the date, following the notice by Sunshine, when the contract was terminable under TOPS’ interpretation of the contract, that is, at one-year intervals). Some acts complained of by TOPS, however, allegedly occurred prior to those dates; in fact, part of TOPS’ claim is that the notification by Sunshine was the direct result of tortious interference by PEOPLES.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
831 F. Supp. 840, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11914, 1993 WL 326174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/telephone-operating-systems-inc-v-peoples-telephone-co-flsd-1993.