THESE ARE NOT ALL OF THE CASES RELEASED BY THE COURTS FOR THE WEEK.
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Contracts -- Quasi contracts -- Unjust enrichment -- Trial court erred by finding that plaintiff's unjust enrichment claim seeking to recover unpaid restoration services performed by a limited liability company he formerly owned was barred by Florida's Construction Lien Law -- Although construction lien filed on behalf of LLC was extinguished by operation of law when LLC failed to file enforcement action within 60 days of notice contesting the claim, discharge of the construction lien did not preclude plaintiff from pursuing other contractual remedies available under common law, including quasi contract claims seeking damages for unjust enrichment -- Section 713.30 of lien law expressly preserves a contractor's alternate remedies -- Distinction between Motor Vehicle Repair Act and Construction Lien Law discussed
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Contracts -- Torts -- Fraudulent inducement -- Immunity -- Absolute -- Arbitral immunity -- Action alleging that defendant, who had served as third neutral arbitrator and chairperson of an arbitration panel, acted in manner that prejudiced the arbitration proceedings and ran counter to general arbitrator oath form executed by defendant and parties' arbitration agreement -- Arbitral immunity is absolute and not merely a defense to liability -- Immunity is not overcome by allegations of bad faith, malice, or incompetence -- Trial court departed from essential requirements of law when it denied defendant's motion to dismiss based on arbitral immunity where allegations of complaint fell squarely within defendant's role as arbitrator -- Plaintiff's attempt to frame conduct as defendant's breach of pre-arbitration oath does not change result
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Mortgage foreclosure -- Sale -- Writ of possession -- Entitlement -- Trial court erred by denying purchaser's motion for writ of possession following foreclosure sale based on determination that purchaser was not entitled to possession because foreclosure pertained to a second mortgage -- No law supports notion that purchaser of property at a foreclosure sale does not acquire title to property or is not entitled to possession of property when the sale relates to a second mortgage rather than a first -- By its very nature, a foreclosure sale of property involves the sale of the property, not a sale of the mortgage being foreclosed or of a “judgment on a mortgage”
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Taxation -- Ad valorem -- Non-residential property -- Assessment -- Statute providing that increase in annual assessment of certain non-residential property may not exceed 10% of assessed value of the property for the prior year did not apply where there was a change of ownership or control -- Transfer of 50% ownership of non-homestead, commercial property to a new 50 percent owner via quitclaim deed constituted a qualifying “change of ownership or control” as that term is defined in section 193.1555(5)(b), Florida Statutes (2023) -- Argument that a change of ownership or control must involve more than 50% of the property in order to reset the assessment limitation is based on misinterpretation of the statute -- Discussion of two distinct and separate circumstances that trigger a reset of the assessment limitation
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Torts -- Malicious prosecution -- Bona fide termination of underlying proceeding in favor of plaintiff -- Negotiated settlement agreement resulting in dismissal of a temporary injunction and petition for a sexual violence injunction was not a bona fide termination of that proceeding in plaintiff's favor where plaintiff's obligations under the settlement agreement approximated the same obligations imposed on him by the temporary injunction -- Trial court properly dismissed malicious prosecution claim with prejudice
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Trusts -- Reformation -- Mistake -- Action seeking to reform 2021 trust as a restatement of settlor's 2014 trust after settlor failed to retitle and transfer property to the 2021 trust -- Trial court erred by reforming trust to be a restatement of a prior trust pursuant to section 736.0415 -- A party seeking reformation under the statute must establish a mistake of fact or law that affects the accomplishment of the settlor's intent and the terms of the trust -- While it could be presumed that a mistake was made that affected the ultimate accomplishment of settlor's intent, it was not a mistake which affected the terms of the trust -- Any mistake in the appropriate titling or conveying of assets does not alter conclusion that the terms of the 2021 Trust conformed to settlor's intent to distribute all his property to single beneficiary -- In the absence of a trust with terms that do not conform to the settlor's intent, a court is powerless to reform it
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Criminal Law Headnotes (Jump to Civil Law Headnotes)

THESE ARE NOT ALL OF THE CASES RELEASED BY THE COURTS FOR THE WEEK.
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Criminal law -- Carrying concealed firearm without license -- Dismissal -- Change in law -- Retroactive application -- Trial court erred by dismissing information charging defendant with carrying a concealed firearm without a license under section 790.01 where dismissal was based on improper retroactive application of 2023 statutory amendment redefining the crime to require the state to prove a defendant's ineligibility for a license -- Discussion of the statutory “savings clause,” section 775.022, and the 2023 amendment to the concealed carry criminal statute -- The 2023 amendments do not apply retroactively under subsection (4) of section 775.022 because the amendments changed the elements of a statutory violation, not the punishment for that violation -- Section 775.022(5), which provides that a statute may not be construed to limit the retroactive effect of any defense to a criminal statute enacted or amended by the legislature in a criminal case, does not provide an alternative ground for affirmance of dismissal -- Subsection (5) only permits the retroactive application of a newly enacted or amended statutory defense to a criminal statute, and 2023 amendment did not add a new statutory defense to the crime
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Criminal law -- Constitutional law -- Sexual predators -- Driver's license designation -- Compelled speech -- Trial court did not err in denying defendant's motion to have sections 322.141(3)(a) and 322.212(5)(c), which require a “SEXUAL PREDATOR” designation on defendant's driver's license, be declared unconstitutional as applied to him -- Extensive discussion of the history of government-issued identification, the U.S. Supreme Court's compelled-speech jurisprudence, and lower-court decisions applying that jurisprudence -- Content of a Florida driver's license is pure government speech -- Marked-license requirement does not compel defendant to speak in violation of First Amendment where any reasonable observer will understand that it's the state's message that defendant is a sexual predator and, by marking a personal identification card normally hidden from public view, the state has not compelled defendant to publicly display or disseminate its message -- Driver's license does not create a perception that the holder endorses the government's message -- The act of presenting identification or handing government documents to someone else is not a form of expressive conduct
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Criminal law -- Driving under influence -- Evidence -- Breath alcohol tests -- Breath test instruments -- Maintenance/repairs -- Appeals -- Certiorari -- Petition filed by state seeking review of order determining that, pursuant to section 316.1934(5), state could not introduce evidence of Intoxilyzer 8000 test results -- Trial court did not depart from essential requirements of the law in determining that breath tests were not conducted in substantial compliance with Department of Law Enforcement rules because the replacement of the breath tube in the Intoxilyzer 8000 constituted a “repair,” and the repair was not performed by an authorized repair facility -- Unauthorized repair is not a minor deviation from the department's rules
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Criminal law -- DUI manslaughter -- Sentencing -- Fifteen-year prison sentence for DUI manslaughter, the statutory maximum, was illegal where sentence did not include statutorily required probationary period -- Drug offender probation imposed on separate count does not satisfy statutory requirements of section 316.193(5) -- Question certified: Does section 316.193(5)'s requirement of “monthly reporting probation” and completion of substance abuse court vitiate a trial court's discretion to impose the maximum fifteen-year prison sentence provided in section 775.082?
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Criminal law -- Robbery with weapon -- Jury instructions -- Lesser included offense -- Resisting a merchant -- Trial court erred by failing to give requested instruction on lesser included offense of resisting a merchant based on fact that there was no evidence that store employees attempted to detain defendant -- Physical detainment is not an element of resisting a merchant -- Error in failing to give instruction was harmless where omitted offense was two or more steps away from charged offense, and jury was presented with, and specifically rejected, all immediate lesser included offenses before returning guilty verdict on charged offense
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