Platte v. Whitfield Realty Co., Inc., BQ-421
| Decision Date | 24 August 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. BQ-421,BQ-421 |
| Parties | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 2052 Don A.G. PLATTE and Linda J. Platte, Appellants/Plaintiffs, v. WHITFIELD REALTY COMPANY, INC., Appellee/Defendant. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
John F. MacLennan, of Kattman, Eshelman & MacLennan, Jacksonville, for appellants/plaintiffs.
W. Thomas Copeland, of Simpson & Mattson, Jacksonville, for appellee/defendant.
Appellants, Don A.G. Platte and Linda J. Platte, appeal from the trial court's order granting a motion to dismiss with prejudice. The issue in this case is whether the trial court correctly granted the motion. We reverse.
The following facts appear in appellants' complaint. Appellants own real property in Duval County, Florida. On July 17, 1985, appellants and appellee, Whitfield Realty Company (Whitfield), entered into a listing agreement in which appellants hired Whitfield to find a purchaser for their Duval County property. The agreement expired on January 17, 1986. Appellants then signed another listing agreement with Watson Realty Company (Watson Realty), and moved out of the state of Florida. The purpose of this agreement was for Watson Realty to find a purchaser for appellants' property. Some time after the second listing agreement was executed, an employee of Watson Realty told appellants that Watson Realty had located a prospective purchaser for their property and that the purchaser had shown great interest in buying it. Before appellants could execute a contract with the potential purchaser, however, Watson Realty notified them that it was cancelling the listing agreement. Watson Realty explained it had been told that appellants had extended the listing agreement with Whitfield for a period ending April 23, 1986. In fact, Whitfield had told Watson Realty that appellants had agreed to extend the listing agreement with Whitfield beyond the original termination date of January 17, 1986.
Whitfield's statements formed the basis of a lawsuit for interference with business arrangements and libel. Whitfield filed no answer in response to appellants' complaint choosing instead to file a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action. The trial court granted Whitfield's motion. Appellants then filed an amended complaint which the trial court ultimately dismissed with prejudice by final order. Under count one of the complaint, which dealt with interference with a contractual relationship, appellants alleged the following concerning the issue of damages: "[a]s a result of the action of defendant as set forth above, plaintiffs were damaged by losing the contractual relationship with Watson Realty which would have resulted in the sale of their home to a purchaser."
This appeal concerns a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action. In considering such a motion, all material allegations of the complaint are taken as true, and the trial court is not permitted to speculate as to whether the allegations will ultimately be proven. Maciejewski v. Holland, 441 So.2d 703 (...
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...damages need not be alleged and it is sufficient if the pleading indicates the nature of the damages. See A.G. Platte v. Whitfield Realty Co., Inc., 511 So.2d 720 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). Any ambiguity could have been cured upon a motion by DeFranco's for a more definite statement in accordance......
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...of the complaint as true and to take them in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Platte' v. Whitfield Realty Company, Inc., 511 So.2d 720 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Maciejewski v. Holland, 441 So.2d 703 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). The trial court's order granting motion to dismiss the second......
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Platte' v. Whitney Realty Co., Inc., 88-1510
...Our opinion reversing that dismissal sets forth the facts of the case, so we shall not repeat them here. See Platte' v. Whitfield Realty, Inc., 511 So.2d 720 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). We now review a final summary judgment for Whitfield, and again we The trial court granted the motion for summar......