REWJB Gas Investments v. Land O'Sun Realty, Ltd., 94-2072

• Decision Date: 16 November 1994
• Docket Number: No. 94-2072,94-2072
• Parties: 19 Fla. L. Weekly D2385 REWJB GAS INVESTMENTS, a Florida general partnership; F.S. Convenience Stores, Inc., as general partner of REWJB Gas Investments; and Toni Gas and Food Stores, Petitioners, v. LAND O'SUN REALTY, LTD., a Florida limited partnership, by and through its general partners, Alan S. Fogg, Jr., as general partner, Stephen M. Fogg, as general partner, and Suzanne Fogg Rentz, as general partner, Respondents.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 1055

645 So.2d 1055

19 Fla. L. Weekly D2385

REWJB GAS INVESTMENTS, a Florida general partnership; F.S Convenience Stores, Inc., as general partner of REWJB Gas Investments; and Toni Gas and Food Stores, Petitioners, v. LAND O'SUN REALTY, LTD., a Florida limited partnership, by and through its general partners, Alan S. Fogg, Jr., as general partner, Stephen M. Fogg, as general partner, and Suzanne Fogg Rentz, as general partner, Respondents.

No. 94-2072.

District Court of Appeal of Florida Fourth District.

Nov. 16, 1994.

Humberto H. Ocariz and Jose Garcia-Pedrosa of Tew & Garcia-Pedrosa, Miami, for petitioners.

Curtis Carlson of Carlson & Bales, P.A., Miami, for respondents.

POLEN, Judge.

Petitioners are the tenants in an eviction proceeding below. They seek review of a June 24, 1994 order denying their motions to stay (or abate) the consolidated eviction cases below until disposition of a related and previously filed Dade County declaratory action, in which the parties are seeking a determination of the duration of the lease agreement which covers the commercial properties which are also the subject of the instant Palm Beach County eviction proceedings. We have certiorari jurisdiction to review orders determining motions to stay a cause pending the disposition of another case. See REWJB Gas Investments v. Land O'Sun Realty, Ltd., 643 So.2d 1107 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994). We quash the order denying the stay and direct the trial court to enter a stay pending the disposition of the Dade County case.

We specifically hold that by denying the stay, under the particular facts at bar, the trial court abused its discretion and departed from the essential requirements of the law which could result in irreparable harm that could not be repaired by plenary appeal. See Lightsey v. Williams, 526 So.2d 764 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988) (failure to abate or stay trespass proceedings pending earlier-filed declaratory judgment action in another county which involved the same parties and the same or substantially the same causes of action constitutes an abuse of discretion and a departure from the essential requirements of the law); Robinson v. Royal Bank of Canada, 462 So.2d 101 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985) (where two actions involving the same parties and essentially the same issues are simultaneously pending, it is a departure from the essential requirements of the law to deny the motion to stay the second action). Unless the instant eviction action is stayed, both courts will simultaneously be considering the same facts and...