Harvey Corp. v. Universal Equipment Co.
| Decision Date | 23 September 1949 |
| Citation | 42 So.2d 577 |
| Parties | HARVEY CORPORATION v. UNIVERSAL EQUIPMENT CO. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Murrell, Fleming & Flowers and Ward & Ward, Miami, for appellant.
Anderson & Nadeau and Andrew T. Healy, Miami, for appellee.
On a second appearance of this case, see 158 Fla. 644, 29 So.2d 700, we reversed that portion of a final decree which allowed the appellant $25,240.12 as damages or compensation for the denial by the appellee of the possession, profits and benefits of the Strath Haven, a seasonal hotel situated in the City of Miami Beach, for the period of time from July 18, 1944, until February 5, 1945, on the theory that the rule adopted in the court below for the admeasurement of damages was nothing more than the abatement of the stipulated rents for the period of time involved.
In ascertaining the amount to be paid by the appellee to the appellant as damages for depriving it of the above hotel from July 18, 1944, until February 5, 1945, we laid down the following yardstick as applicable to the controversy: The measure of damages recoverable in this, and similar cases, as approved by our adjudicated cases, is that the lessee can recover from the lessor for the breach of the contract to deliver possession of the leased premises, the difference, if any, between the rent contracted to be paid and the actual rental value of the premises for the time of unlawful detention of the property. Prospective profits from businesses that the lessee expected to conduct in said premises are too remote and speculative--dependent upon too many contingencies--to be permissible of admeasurement of damages.
On the going down of our mandate the learned Chancellor entered an order rereferring the cause to the same Special Master with specific direction to proceed and ascertain the proper amount of damages--applying the yardstick supra to the evidence then in the record--and make a report of the amount the Harvey Corporation should recover of and from the Universal Equipment Co. for depriving it of the possession, profits and benefits of the Strath Haven Hotel from July 18, 1944 until February 5, 1945. It was the Special Master's report that 'there is no testimony before me upon which I can assess damages according to and in conformity with the judgment and opinion of the Supreme Court'. Exceptions by counsel for appellant were made to this report of the Special Master, but the Chancellor denied the exceptions and entered an order approving and confirming the report as made. The Harvey Corporation appealed.
Pertinent to the point in controversy in the testimony of the witness Lon Worth Crow (see volume two of the transcript of the record on the previous appeal, pages 309 to 341); also the witness Albert Pollack (transcript, pages 341 to 364); A. J. Plotkin (transcript, pages 365 to 395); S. B. Sampson (volume two, page 396 to volume three, page 407). See testimony of Andrew G. O'Rourke, J. Fred Bruner, Bruno Weil, J. N. Morris, Willard Seligman, Harry I. MaGid, Albert Victorson, L. A. Drillick, Ralph Lachman, Joseph Leibman and the Receiver, Louis Bandel. On the former appeal we held that the abatement of rents in the sum of $25,240.12 for the detention period was the improper formula applicable to the evidence and the aforesaid allowance totally inadequate to compensate for the losses sustained by the appellant for the detention period.
The original bill of complaint in this cause was for an accounting and for damages sustained by the plaintiff for the failure of the defendant to deliver possession of the hotel and described articles of furniture from July 18, 1944, until February 5, 1945. A motion to dismiss the bill of complaint on various grounds was denied by the Chancellor below and on petition here for writ of certiorari under Rule 34 we denied the same under date of October 27, 1944. An answer was filed upon the return of the controversy to the lower court to the bill of complaint for an accounting and for damages for the detention of the Strath Haven Hotel from July 18, 1944, until February 5, 1945, and the cause was referred to a Special Master with directions to take evidence and report his conclusions on both questions of fact and law.
The record discloses some four or five hundred pages of testimony offered by the parties on the issues made by the pleadings....
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Young v. Cobbs
...lessee, since they are too remote and speculative. Harvey Corporation v. Universal Equipment Co., 158 Fla. 644, 29 So.2d 700; Id., Fla., 42 So.2d 577. But it is held by a majority of the courts that this rule does not apply to the breaking up of an established business by the eviction of th......
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Universal Equipment Co. v. Harvey Corp.
...Master. From this decree the Harvey Corporation took its second appeal to this Court and our opinion and judgment thereon are reported in 42 So.2d 577. We reviewed the record and held that the Harvey Corporation was entitled to recover from the Universal Equipment Co. as damages for the det......