All Florida Sur. Co. v. Coker
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
| Writing for the Court | ANDERSON; DREW; HOBSON |
| Citation | 88 So.2d 508 |
| Decision Date | 20 June 1956 |
| Parties | ALL FLORIDA SURETY COMPANY, a Florida corporation, Appellant, v. Ralph H. COKER, d/b/a Coker Plumbing, Appellee. ALL FLORIDA SURETY COMPANY, a Florida corporation, Appellant, v. Olin P. WRIGHT, Appellee. |
Page 508
v.
Ralph H. COKER, d/b/a Coker Plumbing, Appellee.
ALL FLORIDA SURETY COMPANY, a Florida corporation, Appellant,
v.
Olin P. WRIGHT, Appellee.
Rehearing Denied July 17, 1956.
Page 509
Henry L. Balaban and Thomas A. Horkan, Jr., Miami, for appellant.
Ruff & Ready, Miami, for Ralph H. Coker and Turner & Hodson, Homestead, for Olin P. Wright, appellees.
ANDERSON, Associate Justice.
H. O. Barber was awarded a contract by the Orange State Oil Company for the construction of a filling station at Oslamorado, Florida. He sublet the plumbing work to Ralph H. Coker and the electrical work to Olin P. Wright. He applied to All Florida Surety Company for a performance bond to insure the fulfillment of the contract. His application was rejected because of his unstable financial condition. The agent of the surety company suggested that he secure others to become co-indemnitors upon his application for the bond. Barber said that his subcontractors would be agreeable to assuming that obligation. The agent, after learning the names of the subcontractors, looked them up in Dun & Bradstreet and informed Barber that they were 'bondable.' He thereupon prepared application for bonds for Coker and Wright and indemnity agreements for them to sign, marked the places for their signatures with a red pencil and gave them to Barber with directions to get the signatures of Coker and Wright to the papers prepared by him and get financial statements from both.
Barber took the papers prepared by the agent of the surety company to Coker and Wright and procured their signatures upon the application for bonds and the indemnity agreements. He also got financial statements from them. These he delivered to the surety company who thereupon signed the performance bond on behalf of the surety company. The agent of the surety company had no dealings with Coker or Wright other than as above set forth.
Barber defaulted on his contract. The surety company completed it at a cost of approximately $6,000. It then called on Coker and Wright for reimbursement under their indemnity agreement. They refused and it brought suit.
Coker and Wright thereupon brought these identical suits in equity for a rescission of the indemnity agreements upon the ground that they had been falsely represented to them by Barber, as agent of the surety company, and that they had neglected to read them when presented for their signature. The special master found that '* * * Barber falsely represented to Coker and Wright that the instruments he was requesting them to sign were those required in order that they, as sub-contractors, could be bonded' and they 'relied on Barber's representations as to the nature of the instruments, and that they signed without reading' them and 'that there was such a confidential relationship existing between Barber and Coker and Wright * * * it is doubtful if they would have
Page 510
understood them [the documents] on account of their lack of experience and education * * *' (Emphasis added.)The Chancellor sustained the master's recommendation that the documents be rescinded and that the surety company's...
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Hall v. Burger King Corp., Civil A. No. 89-0260-Civ-Kehoe.
...signed it without reading it." Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. Bratton, 351 So.2d 344, 348 (Fla.1977) (citing All Florida Surety Co. v. Coker, 88 So.2d 508 (Fla.1956)); see also Credit Alliance Corp. v. Westland Machine Co., 439 So.2d 332, 333 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); Pepper v. First Union Nat'l Bank,......
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Smith v. Royal Automotive Group, Inc., No. 94-2771
...See Orange State Oil Co. v. Crosby, 160 Fla. 664, 36 So.2d 273 (Fla.1948), overruled on other grounds, All Florida Sur. Co. v. Coker, 88 So.2d 508 (Fla.1956); Miley v. Miley, 402 So.2d 557, 558 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981); Gennaro v. Leeper, 313 So.2d 70, 72 (Fla. 2d DCA Although case law from some ......
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Keller v. Reed, No. 91-02906
...(Fla.1977); Onderko; Parham. See also Reliable Fin. Co. v. Axon, 336 So.2d 1271 (Fla. 2d DCA1976), citing All Florida Surety Co. v. Coker, 88 So.2d 508 (Fla.1956) (purpose of rule is to give stability and value to written In this appeal, however, the obligations of the respective parties to......
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Rollins, Inc. v. Heller, Nos. 82-2687
...terms of the contract she was signing. See Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. Bratton, 351 So.2d 344 (Fla.1977); All Florida Surety Co. v. Coker, 88 So.2d 508 4 Any such holding would in effect convert burglar alarm companies into insurance companies. It is most likely that the majority of persons o......
-
Hall v. Burger King Corp., Civil A. No. 89-0260-Civ-Kehoe.
...signed it without reading it." Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. Bratton, 351 So.2d 344, 348 (Fla.1977) (citing All Florida Surety Co. v. Coker, 88 So.2d 508 (Fla.1956)); see also Credit Alliance Corp. v. Westland Machine Co., 439 So.2d 332, 333 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); Pepper v. First Union Nat'l Bank,......
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Smith v. Royal Automotive Group, Inc., No. 94-2771
...See Orange State Oil Co. v. Crosby, 160 Fla. 664, 36 So.2d 273 (Fla.1948), overruled on other grounds, All Florida Sur. Co. v. Coker, 88 So.2d 508 (Fla.1956); Miley v. Miley, 402 So.2d 557, 558 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981); Gennaro v. Leeper, 313 So.2d 70, 72 (Fla. 2d DCA Although case law from some ......
-
Keller v. Reed, No. 91-02906
...(Fla.1977); Onderko; Parham. See also Reliable Fin. Co. v. Axon, 336 So.2d 1271 (Fla. 2d DCA1976), citing All Florida Surety Co. v. Coker, 88 So.2d 508 (Fla.1956) (purpose of rule is to give stability and value to written In this appeal, however, the obligations of the respective parties to......
-
Rollins, Inc. v. Heller, Nos. 82-2687
...terms of the contract she was signing. See Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. Bratton, 351 So.2d 344 (Fla.1977); All Florida Surety Co. v. Coker, 88 So.2d 508 4 Any such holding would in effect convert burglar alarm companies into insurance companies. It is most likely that the majority of persons o......