Collins v. Pic-Town Water Works, Inc., PIC-TOWN
| Decision Date | 22 July 1964 |
| Docket Number | PIC-TOWN,No. 4022,4022 |
| Citation | 166 So.2d 760 |
| Parties | Harry J. COLLINS and Anna M. Collins, his wife, Hamilton Roebuck and Anice E. Roebuck, his wife, Joseph Lenoir and Katy Lenoir, his wife, and Frank V. Moore and Opal Moore, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Appellants, v.WATER WORKS, INC., and Morton W. Flannery, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Charles J. Cheves, Jr., of Icard, Merrill, Cullis & Timm, Sarasota, for appellants.
Robert Knowles of Knowles, Knowles & Mann, Bradenton, for appellees.
As plaintiffs in a class suit in the trial court the appellants sought an injunction and specific performance which were denied after a hearing on the merits.
The plaintiffs were purchasers of mobile home lots. They claimed they were in part induced to buy their lots by oral and written representations made by the subdividers to the effect that there would be a reduced maintenance charge for water when the trailers were unoccupied. A brochure extolling the virtue of the subdivision contained, among other statements, the following: 'There is a charge of $5 per month when trailer is occupied and $1.50 per month for each unoccupied trailer or vacant lot for the maintenance of shuffleboard courts, street lights and water and lights for the clubroom.'
Except as to plaintiff Moore all contracts or deeds conveying the lots were silent as to the above representations.
For about four and one-half years the subdividers and their successor, the water company, performed according to the above terms, after which the water company gave notice that there would thereafter be a $3.50 monthly minimum water charge whether a trailer was occupied or not.
The plaintiffs reacted by filing a complaint seeking to enjoin the water company from turning off the water of any lot owners who had not paid the new charges and asking for specific performance of the representations made to them during the course of their purchase of the lots.
From an order denying all relief the plaintiffs appeal. We affirm.
The chancellor set forth many reasons for his denial of the relief sought. We will discuss only one of them.
Plaintiffs contend that the brochures and other representations led them reasonably to understand that the reduced maintenance charge when there was no trailer occupation was an agreement which was to last an unlimited amount of time. They allege their purchase of the lots in reliance on the representations was consideration for this independent contract not to charge when trailers were vacant.
Even if it could be said that there existed such a binding contract between the parties, the question remains whether the plaintiffs have on appeal demonstrated abuse of the chancellor's discretion in denying specific performance or an injunction. Bliss v. Hollock, Fla.App.1959, 113 So.2d 889; ...
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...of the "inability of the court to undertake supervision of performance of such a contract"). See also Collins v. Pic-Town Water Works, Inc., 166 So.2d 760 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964). Some of the courts have also denied these injunctions on the ground that the damages are purely economic and there i......
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...Fla.App.1963, 153 So.2d 752; Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph v. F.E.C. Ry. Co., 5 Cir. 1968, 399 F.2d 854; Collins v. Pic-Town Water Works, Inc., Fla.App.1964, 166 So.2d 760. And this rule should have been We have not overlooked the language in the contract which provides: '5:--* * * th......
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...such injunctions must be carefully crafted so that they have definitive limits and are not perpetual. Collins v. Pic–Town Water Works, Inc., 166 So.2d 760, 762 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964) ; Abbey Park Homeowners Ass'n v. Bowen, 508 So.2d 554, 555 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987). Just as we would never wish to p......
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