Serafino v. Palm Terrace Apartments, Inc.
| Decision Date | 01 December 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 76--264,76--264 |
| Citation | 343 So.2d 851 |
| Parties | Andrew P. SERAFINO et ux., Appellants, v. PALM TERRACE APARTMENTS, INC., Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Charles J. Cheves, Jr., of Cheves & Hazen, Venice, for appellants.
Jack McGill, of Berg & McGill, and T. Lamar Hazen, Jr., Venice, for appellee.
Appellants, as plaintiffs below, sued defendant/appellee, alleging it interfered with the plaintiffs' contractual relations with Lola McGlocklin Elam by refusing to approve transfer of Elam's cooperative apartment leasehold to the plaintiffs. A nonjury trial resulted in judgment of $700 for the plaintiffs against the defendant, a nonprofit corporation responsible for approving transfer of leaseholds in the apartment complex. This appeal and cross appeal ensued with the plaintiffs contending the trial court erred in limiting their recovery to $700 and by refusing to also grant judgment against the members of defendant's board of directors, while defendants urge us to hold the trial judge erred in failing to dismiss plaintiffs' suit on grounds no cause of action was established. We agree with defendant's position on its cross appeal. We reverse.
To establish the tort of interference with a contractual or business relationship between parties, it is necessary for the plaintiffs to allege and prove:
'(1) the existence of a business relationship under which the plaintiff has legal rights, (2) an intentional and unjustified interference with that relationship by the defendant, and (3) damage to the plaintiff as a result of the breach of the business relationship.' Symon v. J. Rolfe Davis, Inc., 245 So.2d 278 (Fla.4th DCA 1971); Nichols v. MoAmCo Corp., 311 So.2d 750 (Fla.2d DCA 1975).
Here the plaintiffs established they had entered into a contract with Elam to acquire her leasehold interest in Apartment No. 14 of Palm Terrace Apartments. That contract required Elam to convey title by 'proper assignment of lease.' The lease under which Elam holds her interest provides:
Evidence before the trial court showed that plaintiffs explained to the defendant's Credentials Committee that they were purchasing Elam's apartment as an investment with the intention of renting it to others. Since most of the apartment owners in that complex were retirees, the Committee determined it would be incompatible to the other lessees to allow assignment of Elam's lease to a nonresident owner. The defendant's board of directors agreed and declined to approve the proposed assignment to plaintiffs.
Essentially, the issue we reach on the cross appeal is whether or not the defendant Palm Terrace may be held liable to the plaintiffs for intentional interference with contractual relations when the defendant is acting under a pre-existing contract between it and Elam. We are not here dealing with the question of whether there has been a breach of its contract with Elam by the defendant unreasonably withholding its consent to the proposed transfer. There are a legion of cases which hold that such a cause of action lies when a lessor acts unreasonably. See Annotation in 54 A.L.R.3d 679 (1973).
The law recognizes that a contracting party has a justification or privilege to interfere where necessary to protect that party's own contractual...
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