American Heritage Institutional Securities, Inc. v. Price
| Decision Date | 30 January 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-324,79-324 |
| Citation | 379 So.2d 420 |
| Parties | AMERICAN HERITAGE INSTITUTIONAL SECURITIES, INC., Robert L. Noble and Forrest Thompson, Appellants, v. Francis T. PRICE, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
John D. Mahaffey, Jr., Orlando, for appellants.
Richard H. Adams, Jr. of Gray, Adams, Harris & Robinson, P.A., Orlando, for appellee.
The Appellants filed an interlocutory appeal of the trial court's order denying the Appellant's Motion to Strike and Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. The Appellee filed a Motion to Dismiss the appeal. The motions in the lower court were directed to whether the causes of action as stated in a two count complaint could be prosecuted as a class action. The Appellants urge that we have jurisdiction to review these non-final orders of the trial court under Rule 9.130(a)(3)(C)(iv) of the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure:
Review of non-final orders of lower tribunals is limited to those which . . . determine . . . the issue of liability in favor of a party seeking affirmative relief.
We disagree. The determination by a trial court that a cause can be appropriately brought as a class action, or that the allegations are sufficient to sustain a class suit, does not affirmatively determine liability. It allows the cause to proceed towards a potential liability as yet undetermined, and one which may never be established.
Prior to the adoption of the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure, effective March 1, 1978, the sufficiency of the allegations of a complaint in class actions was frequently the subject of appeal to the District Courts of Appeal of Florida. See Davidson v. Lely Estates, Inc., 330 So.2d 528 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976); Rosenwasser v. Frager, 307 So.2d 865 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1975); Hendler v. Rogers House Condominium, Inc., 234 So.2d 128 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970). These appeals were taken as "interlocutory" appeals under Rule 4.2, which provided: "Appeals may be prosecuted in accordance with this rule from interlocutory orders in civil actions which, from the subject matter or relief sought, are such as formerly were cognizable in equity . . . ." In equity, it has long been held that when a question is one of common or general interest to many persons, who constitute a class so numerous as to make it impractical to bring all of them before the court, one or more may sue or defend for the whole.
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General Development Corp. v. Stanislaus
...Lake Dev., 395 So.2d at 592, Ero Properties, Inc. v. Cone, 395 So.2d 1264 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), American Heritage Institutional Sec., Inc. v. Price, 379 So.2d 420 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980). Compare Hessen v. Metropolitan Dade County, 513 So.2d 1330 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987) (order denying certification of......
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B E & K, Inc. v. Seminole Kraft Corp., 90-3578
...the liability of any of these defendants was necessarily inchoate prior to such judgment, cf. American Heritage Institutional Securities, Inc. v. Price, 379 So.2d 420 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980) ..., and (b) was not a ruling on motions which sought "affirmative relief," see Rhein v. Rhein, 244 Minn......
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Ogur v. Mogel, 80-1641
...the liability of any of these defendants was necessarily inchoate prior to such a judgment, cf. American Heritage Institutional Securities, Inc. v. Price, 379 So.2d 420 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980) (holding that a determination by the trial court that a suit can appropriately be brought as a class a......
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Kohl v. Bay Colony Club Condominium, Inc.
...Inc. v. Berliner, 360 So.2d 784 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978). The fifth district followed our lead in American Heritage Institutional Securities, Inc. v. Price, 379 So.2d 420 (1980) (Fla. 5th DCA 1980). We propose to revisit the The substantive right of a condominium association to bring a class act......