Kopel v. Kopel

• Decision Date: 26 January 2017
• Docket Number: No. SC13–992,SC13–992
• Citation: 229 So.3d 812
• Parties: Leon KOPEL, Petitioner, v. Bernardo KOPEL, et al., Respondents.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

229 So.3d 812

Leon KOPEL, Petitioner,
v.
Bernardo KOPEL, et al., Respondents.

No. SC13–992

Supreme Court of Florida.

[January 26, 2017]

Raoul G. Cantero, III, David P. Draigh, and Jesse Luke Green of White & Case LLP, Miami, Florida, for Petitioner

Scott Jay Feder of Scott Jay Feder, P.A., Coral Gables, Florida, for Respondents

QUINCE, J.

Respondents Bernardo and Enrique Kopel seek review of the decision of the Third District Court of Appeal in Kopel v. Kopel, 117 So.3d 1147 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013), on the ground that it expressly and directly conflicts with a decision of this Court and other district courts of appeal on a question of law. We have jurisdiction. See Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. For the reasons that follow, we quash the decision of the Third District and approve the line of cases that follow the exact language of rule 1.190(c), allowing an amended complaint to relate back to the filing of the original, timely filed complaint as long as any new claims within the amendment arise out of the same conduct, transaction, or occurrence as in the original filing.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This case comes to us after twenty-one years of litigation involving claims by Leon Kopel (Petitioner) against his brother, Enrique Kopel, and Enrique's son, Bernardo Kopel (Leon's nephew),¹ resulting from deteriorating business relationships within the family. Kopel, 117 So.3d at 1149. In 1994, Petitioner filed this lawsuit after he

229 So.3d 814

was unsuccessful in demanding the repayment of $5 million from Respondents and payment of two promissory notes for $845,000 and $1.45 million from Bernardo. At the 2008 trial, Petitioner, for the first time, claimed that settlement conversations between him and Enrique were actually oral agreements whereby Enrique was to pay $5 million to Petitioner in exchange for Petitioner's interest in certain business entities. Id. The trial resulted in a hung jury, and after a mistrial was declared, the trial court ordered the parties to amend their pleadings. Id. Petitioner's amendments to his complaint culminated with a fifth amended complaint filed in 2009, wherein he alleged that using a $15 million loan (which he and Enrique obtained from the Royal Bank of Canada using two companies they each owned individually), Petitioner loaned $5 million to Bernardo (Count I); that Petitioner received oral promises from Respondents to repay the loan and that in exchange for Respondents paying Petitioner $5 million, Petitioner would release them from any interest or claims Petitioner had in companies the parties owned together (Count II); and that Respondents were unjustly enriched when Petitioner gave them $5 million (Count III). Id. Respondents moved to dismiss the fifth amended complaint, arguing inter alia that the "breach of oral promise" claim was time-barred by the four-year statute of limitations, but the trial court denied the motion. Id. at 1150–51. Prior to trial, Respondents moved for summary judgment on the same grounds, but the trial court also denied that motion, and the case proceeded to trial. Id.

Finding in favor of Petitioner on all three counts, the jury found that Petitioner loaned Bernardo $5 million and Bernardo orally agreed to repay $2 million, that Enrique orally agreed to pay $3 million, and that Respondents were unjustly enriched by Petitioner for a total benefit conferred in the amount of $10 million. Id. After the verdict, Respondents filed a motion for a new trial or for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, alleging inter alia that there was no evidence to prove any of Petitioner's claims and the jury's verdicts were inconsistent. The trial court denied the motion and entered final judgment against Respondents, jointly and severally, on the unjust enrichment claim only. Id. Although it reduced the jury award on this claim to $5 million, the trial court entered final judgment in favor of Petitioner for $14,063,164.50, after adding prejudgment interest. Id.

Respondents appealed, and the Third District held that Respondents were entitled to judgment as a matter of law because the evidence did not support any of Petitioner's claims. Id. at 1149, 1151. Specifically, the court found that there was no unjust enrichment because the benefit of the loan was conferred upon corporate entities rather than Respondents directly. Id. at 1152 (citing Peoples Nat'l Bank of Commerce v. First Union Nat'l Bank of Fla., N.A., 667 So.2d 876, 879 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996), for principle that unjust enrichment requires a benefit conferred directly to the litigant). The district court also reversed because Petitioner's claims were barred by the statute of limitations, as the fifth amended complaint did not relate back to the original. Id. at 1153. The court stated to have relation back, an amended pleading must not state a new cause of action. Id. at 1152. The court found that the alleged oral promise by Enrique to repay the $5 million was "new, different, and distinct" from that which was originally pled. Id. Thus, the Third District concluded that the fifth amended complaint could not relate back as a matter of law. Id. Petitioner now seeks review of the Third District's decision.

229 So.3d 815

ANALYSIS

A trial court's ruling on a motion to dismiss is subject to de novo review. Mender v. Kauderer, 143 So.3d 1011, 1013 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014) ; Armiger v. Associated Outdoor Clubs, Inc., 48 So.3d 864, 869 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010). The determination of whether an amended complaint relates back to the filing of the original complaint is a question of law, also reviewed de novo. Caduceus Properties, LLC v. Graney, 137 So.3d 987, 991 (Fla. 2014) ; Flores v. Riscomp Indus., Inc., 35 So.3d 146, 148 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010). An amended complaint raising claims for which the statute of limitations has expired can survive a motion to dismiss if the claims relate back to the timely filed initial pleading. Flores, 35 So.3d at 147. Thus, the conflict issue here is whether Petitioner's fifth amended complaint, which added a new "breach of oral promise" claim not contained within the original complaint, relates back to the filing of the original complaint under rule 1.190(c). Rule 1.190 governs amended pleadings and defines the relation back doctrine as follows: "When the claim or defense asserted in the amended pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, the amendment shall relate back to the date of the original pleading." Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.190(c) (emphasis added).

I. Relation Back

It is undisputed that Petitioner's original complaint, filed in 1994, did not specifically allege a breach of oral promise claim. Petitioner first asserted this claim in his fourth amended complaint in 2008 against Enrique only, and against both Respondents in his fifth amended complaint in 2009. The statute of limitations provides only a four-year period in which to raise such a claim. § 95.11(3)(k), Fla. Stat. (1993). Here, the fifth amended complaint alleges that the oral promise was made "during the funding of the loan" to Bernardo, which occurred in 1991. Respondents explain that Petitioner's July 13, 2010, Answers to Interrogatories state that the oral promise was made in 1991, 1992, and again in 1993. Even using 1993, the statute of limitations expired on Petitioner's claim in 1997 at the latest. Thus, for the claim to survive dismissal, it must relate back to the initial complaint. Flores, 35 So.3d at 147.

There are two lines of district court cases interpreting the operation of the relation back doctrine in Florida. The first holds that an amended pleading does not relate back if it states a new, different, or distinct cause of action from the original pleading. Trumbull Ins. Co. v. Wolentarski, 2 So.3d 1050, 1055 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009) ; Page v. McMullan, 849 So.2d 15, 16 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003) (stating that amendments "may not be used to avoid the statute of limitations if the amendment sets forth a new and distinct cause of action"); Arnwine v. Huntington Nat'l Bank, N.A., 818 So.2d 621, 625 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002) ("[E]ntirely new and separate causes of action will not relate back."); W. Volusia Hosp. Auth. v. Jones, 668 So.2d 635, 636 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996) (explaining that relation back is not permitted where amendment states a new and distinct cause of action); Daniels v. Weiss, 385 So.2d 661, 663 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980). For example, in Arnwine, the plaintiff's original complaint alleged causes of action against the defendant bank for reconstruction of lost instruments, conversion, accounting, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty. 818 So.2d at 625. The amended complaint alleged the same causes of action, but also included a new claim for civil conspiracy. Id. The Second District found that the trial court did not err in dismissing this new claim because "[w]hile the allegations of this count arise from the same set of operative facts alleged in the

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original complaint, civil conspiracy is, in fact, an entirely new cause of action" that does not relate back. Id. at 625–26.

The second line of cases instead follows the exact language of rule 1.190(c) —allowing relation back where the claims from the amended pleading arise out of the...