• About
  • Complaints
  • Contact us
  • Forms
  • Disclaimer
  • Copyright

Florida Landlord-Tenant Law

~ a digest of Florida Landlord Tenant Court Decisions

Florida Landlord-Tenant Law

Monthly Archives: October 2014

Court affirms wife’s self-help eviction of mistress

22 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by apjlaw in Landlord - Tenant

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

83.67, civil theft, eviction, florida, LANDLORD, self-help, TENANT

scornedA Canadian husband and wife, Paul and Beverly Cutler owned a townhome in Wellington Florida. The husband signed a lease with a Mr. and Mrs. Roger Pelletier listed as the tenants. In reality. the property was occupied by Mrs. Pelletier and her single friend Pamela Caputo.   Ms. Caputo was Mr. Cutler’s mistress and no rent was ever paid.   When Mrs. Cutler discovered this, she had the locks changed and the ladies belongings removed to the garage.

The ladies then proceeded to sue the Cutlers for wrongful eviction and the theft of some items they claimed were missing. The court entered a judgment against the Cutlers for $178,500 as treble compensatory damages and $300,200 as punitive damages. The sting of a mistress scorned!

Most of that sting was reversed on appeal.  The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that as Mrs. Cutler did not sign the lease to the jointly owned townhome, that Pelletier and Caputo,   were “guests” of Mr. Cutler, but not lawful tenants. Property held by husband and wife as tenants by the entireties cannot be leased without both spouses joining in the contract. Thus, the judgment for unlawful eviction was overturned. The court also noted that the civil theft statute was changed after the complaint was filed, but before the judgment was entered eliminating punitive damages, so that portion of the judgment was also reversed. The case was remanded to determine the actual value of the missing items at the time of loss, rather than their replacement cost and the judgment was reduced to $12,510.00 plus interest.

 

CUTLER v. PELLETIER

District Court of Appeal of Florida,
Fourth District.

507 So.2d 676

12 Fla. L. Weekly 1255

Rate this:

Damages for dog bite

07 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by apjlaw in Damages, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

767.01, attack, bite, damages, dog, liability, tort, vetrinary bills

dog Defendant’s dog attached Plaintiff’s cat in Plaintiff’s garage. As a result Plaintiff incurred $6500 in veterinary bills before the cat died.   Plaintiff sued Defendant

Defendant argued that the measure of damages should be the market value of the cat. The court noted that Section  Florida Statutes, “Dog owner’s liability for damages to persons, domestic animals, or livestock” provides “Owners of dogs shall be liable for any damage done by their dogs to a person or to any animal included in the definitions of “domestic animal” and “livestock” as provided by s. 585.01.   Thus the owner of a dog is cast virtually in the role of an insurer and is strictly liable for the damage done by his dog.

In cases of injury to animals, the plaintiff ought to recover for expenses reasonably incurred in efforts to cure them in addition to the diminution in their value or their whole value when they are finally lost. The traditional restriction in personal property cases that the cost of repair should not exceed the market or ‘intrinsic’ value of the property should not be applied in a case whether neither market nor ‘intrinsic’ value is capable of calculation and a living creature is involved. However, the court found that as the cat was seventeen years old, $6500 in medical care was excessive, and only awarded $2500.00.

MEACOMES, vs. MORALES, County Court, 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Civil Division. September 22, 2004. 11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1073a

Rate this:

About this Blog

This blog contains articles about Florida landlord-tenant law written by a practicing Florida lawyer.

There are free landlord-tenant forms on the Forms Tab above, and even more free forms on my website FloridaREI.com (click on the link below).

You can search the articles by terms in the search tab above, or click on the categories below to browse.

Comments and feedback are welcome and I will try to answer your questions (within reason).

Click "subscribe" below to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Click on the Monkey below to subscribe to our real estate investors newsletter

The Florida Bar urges you to read the disclaimer above.

Click here for more forms

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Categories

  • Foreclosure
  • Landlord – Tenant
    • 15 Day Notice / Termination of Tenancy
    • 3 Day Notice / Non-payment of rent
    • 7 Day Notice / Lease violations
    • Commercial
    • Damages
    • Foreclosure
    • Lease Terms
    • Legal requirements
    • Notice Requirements
    • Repair issues
    • Requirement to post rent into court registry
    • Security Deposit
  • Real Estate
  • Scams
  • Tax Deeds
  • Uncategorized

Pages

  • About
  • Contact us
  • Forms
  • Disclaimer
  • Complaints
  • Copyright

Archives

  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy