Morsani v. Major League Baseball
| Decision Date | 31 March 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-01327.,98-01327. |
| Citation | 739 So.2d 610 |
| Parties | Frank L. MORSANI, individually, and for the Use and Benefit of Tampa Bay Baseball Group, Inc., and Tampa Bay Baseball Group, Inc., individually, a Florida corporation, Appellants, v. MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL; Bowie Kuhn; Peter V. Ueberroth; Edwin M. Durso; Francis T. Vincent, Jr.; National League of Professional Baseball Clubs; Charles S. Feeney; William D. White; American League of Professional Baseball Clubs; Leland S. MacPhail, Jr.; Robert W. Brown, M.D.; National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, Inc., a Florida Corporation; Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc., d/b/a Atlanta Braves; Chicago National League Ball Club, Inc., d/b/a Chicago Cubs; The Cincinnati Reds, d/b/a Cincinnati Reds; Florida Marlins, Inc., a Florida Corporation, d/b/a Florida Marlins; Harry Wayne Huizenga; Blockbuster Entertainment Corp.; Houston Sports Association, Inc., d/b/a Houston Astros; Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc., d/b/a Los Angeles Dodgers; Peter O'Malley; Montreal Baseball Club, Ltd., d/b/a Montreal Expos; Sterling Doubleday Enterprises, L.P., d/b/a New York Mets; Fred Wilpon; The Phillies, d/b/a Philadelphia Phillies; Bill Giles; Pittsburgh Associates, d/b/a Pittsburgh Pirates; Douglas D. Danforth; Carl F. Barger; St. Louis Baseball Club, Inc., d/b/a St. Louis Cardinals; Fred L. Kuhlmann; San Diego National League Baseball Club, Inc., d/b/a San Diego Padres; Lurie Sports, Inc., d/b/a San Francisco Giants; The Orioles, Inc., d/b/a Baltimore Orioles; Boston Red Sox Baseball Club, d/b/a Boston Red Sox; Haywood Sullivan; Golden West Baseball Company, d/b/a California Angels; Chicago White Sox; Jerry M. Reinsdorf; Cleveland Indians Baseball Co., d/b/a Cleveland Indians; Detroit Baseball Club, Inc., d/b/a Detroit Tigers; Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp., d/b/a Kansas City Royals; Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, d/b/a Milwaukee Brewers; Allan H. Selig; Minnesota Twins Partnership, d/b/a Minnesota Twins; MTI Acquiring Co.; Carl Pohlad; Minnesota Twins, Inc., d/b/a Minnesota Twins Baseball Club and/or Minnesota Twins; Calvin R. Griffith; Thelma Griffith Haynes; Peter Dorsey; Peter Dorsey, P.A.; New York Yankees, Inc., d/b/a New York Yankees; George M. Steinbrenner; Oakland Athletics Baseball Company, d/b/a Oakland Athletics; The Baseball Club of Seattle, Inc., d/b/a Seattle Mariners; Texas Rangers, Ltd., d/b/a Texas Rangers; Eddie Chiles; Edward Gaylord; and Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club, d/b/a Toronto Blue Jays, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Joel D. Eaton of Podhurst, Orseck, Josefsberg, Eaton, Meadow, Olin & Perwin, P.A., Miami, and Cunningham Clark & Greiwe, P.A., Tampa, for Appellants.
John W. Foster, Sr., of Baker & Hostetler, LLP, Orlando, for Appellee.
Frank L. Morsani, individually, and for the use and benefit of Tampa Bay Baseball Group, Inc., and Tampa Bay Baseball Group, Inc., individually (the plaintiffs), appeal the trial court's order granting partial summary judgment in favor of numerous individuals and corporations involved in Major League Baseball (the defendants). We agree that the trial court incorrectly held that equitable estoppel is not a viable defense against the statute of limitations. Because we find that a genuine issue of material fact exists regarding the claim at issue, we reverse. This is the second time this case has been before this court. In Morsani v. Major League Baseball, 663 So.2d 653, 657 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995) (Morsani I), this court reversed the trial court's order dismissing the plaintiffs' complaint for failure to state a cause of action. The complaint alleged that the defendants had tortiously interfered with various contractual rights and advantageous business relationships which the plaintiffs had developed over the years in their efforts to acquire ownership of a major league baseball team in Tampa, Florida. See id. at 655-56. The complaint also alleged that the defendants had violated Florida's anti-trust laws by conspiring together to prevent the plaintiffs from succeeding in that endeavor. See id. The facts as alleged in the plaintiffs' complaint are fully set out in Morsani I.
The present appeal involves Count I of the plaintiff's complaint, which alleges tortious interference in the acquisition of the Minnesota Twins. The plaintiffs allege that, in 1984, the owners of a majority of the stock of Minnesota Twins, Inc. agreed to sell their controlling interest to the plaintiffs on condition that the plaintiffs first purchase the minority interest from a different party. The plaintiffs subsequently purchased the minority interest for $11,500,000. Thereafter, the majority owners sold their interest to another buyer, and the defendants demanded that the plaintiffs assign the minority interest to the new majority owner for $225,000. At that time, the minority interest in the Minnesota Twins was worth $25,000,000.
The plaintiffs further allege that they agreed to the assignment because the defendants promised that the plaintiffs would be an "absolute front runner" and "at the top of the list" to obtain a majority ownership interest in a baseball franchise in time to begin the 1993 baseball season. The defendants also told the plaintiffs that if they failed to assign the minority interest, the plaintiffs would never own an interest in a major league baseball team. It is undisputed that the plaintiffs never obtained an ownership interest in any major league baseball team, even though Major League Baseball granted other new baseball franchises.
After two more failed attempts to purchase baseball franchises, the plaintiffs filed a complaint, alleging interference with advantageous contractual and business relationships and violation of antitrust laws. The defendants moved for summary judgment, claiming that the statute of limitations had run as to Count I. At the hearing on the motion, the plaintiffs conceded that the statute of limitations had run, but argued that the defendants were equitably estopped from raising the statute of limitations because the defendants had induced the plaintiffs to forbear suit on the Minnesota Twins transaction.
The trial court granted summary judgment as to Count I as a matter of law. The trial court found that section 95.051, Florida Statutes (1993),1 which enumerates the eight specific circumstances that toll the statute of limitations, constitutes a legislatively mandated exclusive catalogue of grounds that can avoid the application of the statute of limitations, as the statute was authoritatively construed by the supreme court in Fulton County Administrator v. Sullivan, 22 Fla. L. Weekly S578, ___ So.2d ___, 1997 WL 589312 (Fla. Sept. 25, 1997). Because equitable estoppel was not included among the permissible grounds for avoiding the effect of the statute of limitations set out in section 95.051, the trial court held that the plaintiffs' claims were barred by the statute of limitations.
There are two issues involved in this case. The first issue is whether, under the doctrine of equitable estoppel, the plaintiffs can file an action against the defendants after the statute of limitations has run on their claim. The second issue is whether there is a disputed issue of material fact regarding the plaintiffs' claim of equitable estoppel. We find that the doctrine of equitable estoppel survives Sullivan and conclude that the trial court erred in dismissing the plaintiffs' action in the instant case. We also conclude that there is a disputed issue of material fact.
In this case, the plaintiffs had a four-year limitation under section 95.11(3)(o), Florida Statutes (1993), to file their claim of tortious interference with contractual rights and advantageous business relationships. It is undisputed that the plaintiffs filed the complaint outside of the statute of limitations period. The plaintiffs do not contend that the statute of limitations is tolled. Instead, the plaintiffs claim that the defendants are estopped to assert the bar of the expired statute.
The defendants argue that Sullivan eliminates the doctrine of equitable estoppel as a defense to the statute of limitations. In Sullivan, the district court of appeal held that section 95.051 precludes the tolling of the statute of limitations due to fraudulent concealment. See 22 Fla. L. Weekly at S579, ___ So.2d at ___. The action arose when James Sullivan admitted to the murder of his wife after the statute of limitations had run on a wrongful death claim. See id. at S578, ___ So.2d at ___. Subsequently, the estate of the wife filed a wrongful death action against Sullivan. See id. Faced with an affirmative defense of a statute of limitations bar to the claim, the estate asserted that Sullivan's fraudulent concealment of his participation in the murder tolled the statutory limitation period. See id. Sullivan argued that section 95.051, Florida Statutes (1985), which enumerated several events that would toll the statute of limitations, precluded fraudulent concealment as a defense because fraudulent concealment was absent from the list. See id. at S579, ___ So.2d at ___.
The supreme court agreed and reasoned that the legislative intent of section 95.051 sought to exclude all tolling exceptions except those listed in the statute. See id. Furthermore, the court reasoned, the statute specifically precluded the use of any tolling provision not listed. See id. However, the court did conclude that the statute was unjustly narrow and urged the legislature to consider an amendment to the statute to avoid such an unfair result. See id.
In the instant case, the trial court found that Sullivan stands for the proposition that any defenses to the statute of limitations outside those listed in section 95.051 are not cognizable. We find that the trial court's interpretation of Sullivan is misplaced. Because the concepts of tolling and estoppel are distinct and separate as...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Major League Baseball v. Morsani
...Orseck, Josefsberg, Eaton, Meadow, Olin & Perwin, P.A., Miami, FL, for Respondents. SHAW, J. We have for review Morsani v. Major League Baseball, 739 So.2d 610 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999), wherein the district court certified the following Does section 95.051, Florida Statutes (1993), prohibit the a......
-
Ryan v. Lobo De Gonzalez
...been recognized and applied in numerous contexts by the supreme court since the inception of statehood." See Morsani v. Major League Baseball, 739 So.2d 610, 614 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1999), approved in part, 790 So.2d 1071 (Fla. 2001) (citations omitted). "The doctrine has also been recognized as ......
-
Acoustic Innovations, Inc. v. Schafer
...been recognized and applied in numerous contexts by the supreme court since the inception of statehood." See Morsani v. Major League Baseball, 739 So.2d 610, 614 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1999), approved in part, 790 So.2d 1071 (Fla.2001) (citations omitted). "The doctrine has also been recognized as a......
-
Black Diamond Properties Inc. v. Haines
...been recognized and applied in numerous contexts by the supreme court since the inception of statehood.” See Morsani v. Major League Baseball, 739 So.2d 610, 614 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1999), approved in part, 790 So.2d 1071 (Fla.2001) (citations omitted). “The doctrine has also been recognized as a......
-
Legal theories & defenses
...because his conduct has induced another into forbearing suit within the applicable limitations period. Morsani v. Major League Baseball , 739 So.2d 610, 614 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999), approved , 790 So.2d 1071 (Fla. 2001). §18:130 ESTOPPEL, JUDICIAL §18:130.1 Elements — Florida Supreme Court The r......