JAVAN 5070 LLC 5070 LLC 20D LLC 10D LLC v. SEAWINDS SOUTH CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION INC (2021)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.2021-08-25No. No. 4D20-2300

Summary · law.co

Holding. The court affirmed the dismissal and arbitration referral of Count 1, paragraph 34(a), but remanded for the circuit court to issue a corrected order limiting the arbitration referral to only that portion of the complaint and to consider and rule on the remaining grounds raised in the motion to dismiss that had not yet been addressed.

The appellate court reconsidered its prior decision after the parties requested rehearing and clarification. The court upheld the lower court's decision to dismiss one portion of the case (Count 1, paragraph 34(a), involving the validity of 2012 amendments) and refer it to mandatory nonbinding arbitration under Florida law, which requires such disputes to go through arbitration before court litigation. However, the court found that the lower court's written order incorrectly included other claims (Count 1, paragraphs 34(b) and (c), and Count 2) in the arbitration referral, which the opposing party had conceded were not subject to mandatory arbitration. The court also noted that the lower court had not yet ruled on several other grounds raised in the motion to dismiss.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

Whether claims challenging the validity of 2012 condominium amendments must be subject to mandatory nonbinding arbitration
Scope of claims properly subject to mandatory arbitration under Florida condominium law
Proper disposition of a motion to dismiss when only some claims are subject to mandatory arbitration

Procedural posture

On appeal, the appellants moved for rehearing and clarification of the appellate court's prior decision affirming the lower court's order granting a motion to dismiss.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

ON APPELLANTS’ MOTION FOR REHEARING AND/OR CLARIFICATION

We grant appellants’ motion for rehearing and/or clarification, withdraw our June 30, 2021 opinion, and substitute the following opinion.

We affirm without discussion the circuit courts order granting appellees’ motion to dismiss appellants’ complaints count 1 paragraph 34(a) regarding the 2012 amendments validity and referring that claim to mandatory nonbinding arbitration pursuant to section 718.1255, Florida Statutes (2019). See § 718.1255(4)(a), Fla. Stat. (2019) (“Prior to the institution of court litigation, a party to a dispute shall petition the [D]ivision [of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation] for nonbinding arbitration.”) (emphasis added); § 718.1255(1)(b)2.-3., Fla. Stat. (2019) (“As used in this section, the term ‘dispute’ means any disagreement between two or more parties that involves ․ [t]he failure of a governing body, when required by this chapter or an association document, to ․ [g]ive adequate notice of meetings or other actions ․ [or] [p]roperly conduct meetings ․”).

However, to the extent the circuit courts written order inadvertently referred appellants’ complaints count 1 paragraph 34(b) and (c), as well as appellants complaints count 2, to mandatory nonbinding arbitration – contrary to appellees’ hearing concession that those portions of appellants’ complaint were not subject to mandatory nonbinding arbitration – we remand for the circuit court to enter a new written order, limiting its disposition of appellees’ motion to dismiss to only appellants’ complaints count 1 paragraph 34(a) regarding the 2012 amendments validity.

We further observe that, although appellees’ motion to dismiss appellants’ complaint raised other grounds, the circuit court has not entered a ruling on those other grounds, and thus our review of those other grounds would be premature. Therefore, we also remand for the circuit court to consider and rule on those other grounds.

Affirmed in part, remanded in part with instructions.

Gerber, J.

Conner, C.J., and Klingensmith, J., concur.