Angelini v. Mobile Home Village, Inc., V--82
| Decision Date | 15 April 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. V--82,V--82 |
| Citation | 310 So.2d 776 |
| Parties | Remo Joseph ANGELINI, Appellant, v. MOBILE HOME VILLAGE, INC., a corporation, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
C. Roger Vinson of Beggs, Lane, Daniel, Gaines & Davis, Pensacola, for appellant.
Joseph Q. Tarbuck, Pensacola, for appellee.
Plaintiff-appellant sued defendant-appellee alleging that he bought a mobile home from defendant which was negligently damaged by defendant while being delivered to him. Defendant, through its vice-president, filed an answer denying the alleged negligence and damages. 1 Approximately sixty days before the non-jury trial date, plaintiff's attorney mailed notice of the date, time and place of the final hearing to defendant. Defendant did not have an attorney. No one appeared on defendant's behalf at the trial. After hearing the testimony adduced on plaintiff's behalf and examining plaintiff's witnesses, the trial court rendered a judgment in favor of plaintiff for $4,300.00 plus costs.
Defendant then employed an attorney who filed a motion to vacate the judgment and grant a new trial to defendant on the ground that defendant's neglect in failing to appear at the trial was excusable. At the hearing on the motion, defendant's vice-president stated that though he received the notice of the final hearing which set forth the date, time and place, the phrase 'or as soon thereafter as counsel may be heard,' which followed immediately thereafter, misled him. He thought that the court would notify him when and where the trial would be held. However, he took no action to determine the trial date by communicating with the court, its clerk or plaintiff's attorney.
The trial court granted defendant's motion to vacate and for a new trial on the ground that defendant's representative was inapt in court porcedure. Plaintiff has appealed from this order. Once again, defendant has neither employed an attorney nor appeared before the court.
The issue raised by this appeal is whether the facts and circumstances in this case constituted excusable neglect. We are of the opinion they do not and reverse.
The precise circumstances constituting excusable neglect depend upon all the factors in the case. Greater leniency is granted in cases not decided upon the merits. A judgment may not be set aside for a party guilty of gross negligence. Florida Investment Enterprises, Inc., et al. v. Kentucky Company, Inc., 160 So.2d 733 (Fla.App.1964).
The defendant chose not to employ an attorney to represent it in the trial court. Instead, its vice-president represented it and filed an answer on its behalf. The vice-president was a college graduate. He...
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Szteinbaum v. Kaes Inversiones y Valores, C.A.
...ruling prohibiting the sole shareholder of the defendant corporation from conducting the defense. See also Angelini v. Mobile Home Village, Inc., 310 So.2d 776 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975) (noting that although question of improper representation not raised by parties, answer filed by corporate defe......
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Daytona Migi Corp. v. Daytona Automotive Fiberglass Inc.
...(Fla. 5th DCA 1980); Southeastern Associates, Inc. v. First Georgia Bank, 362 So.2d 967 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978); Angelini v. Mobile Home Village, Inc., 310 So.2d 776 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975). In Nicholson Supply Co., Inc. v. First Federal Savings & Loan Assoc. of Hardee County, 184 So.2d 438 (Fla. 2......
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Richter v. Higdon Homes, Inc.
...4th DCA 1985); Daytona Migi Corp. v. Daytona Automotive Fiberglass, Inc., 417 So.2d 272 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982); Angelini v. Mobile Home Village, Inc., 310 So.2d 776 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975). This rule applies even where the non-lawyer purporting to represent the corporation is the sole shareholder ......
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Quinn v. Housing Authority of City of Orlando
...Nicholson Supply Co. v. First Federal Savings & Loan Association, 184 So.2d 438 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960); Angelini v. Mobil Home Village, Inc., 310 So.2d 776 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975); Southeastern Associates, Inc. v. First Georgia Bank, 362 So.2d 967 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). Therefore, the partial summary......