Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed February 3, 2021.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D20-923
Lower Tribunal No. 19-7413
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People's Trust Insurance Company,
Petitioner,
vs.
Enrique Gonzalez,
Respondent.
A Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County,
Beatrice Butchko, Judge.
Cole Scott & Kissane, P.A., and David C. Borucke (Tampa), for
petitioner.
Marin, Eljaiek, Lopez, & Martinez, P.L., and Steven E. Gurian, for
respondent.
Before FERNANDEZ, LOGUE, and LOBREE, JJ.
ON PETITION FOR CERTIORARI
LOGUE, J.
In this first party insurance case, People’s Trust Insurance Company,
the defendant below, appeals an order granting partial summary judgment
and directing it to pay Enrique Gonzalez $70,800 for fire damage to his house
within ten days of the date of the order. The order, however, leaves
unresolved other, factually related claims including one for fire damage to
personal property. Because the order does not complete the judicial labor in
the trial court on factually related matters, the order under review does not
qualify as a partial final judgment, which would be appealable as a final order.
See Fla. R. Civ. P. 9.110(k). At the same time, the order is not on the list of
non-final orders authorized by the Supreme Court to be appealed on an
interlocutory basis. See Fla. R. Civ. P. 9.130. For this reason, we previously
informed the parties that the matter would be treated as a petition for
certiorari and ordered responses accordingly.
“To grant certiorari relief, there must be: ‘(1) a material injury in the
proceedings that cannot be corrected on appeal (sometimes referred to as
irreparable harm); and (2) a departure from the essential requirements of the
law.’” Fla. Power & Light Co. v. Cook, 277 So. 3d 263, 264 (Fla. 3d DCA
2019) (quoting Nader v. Fla. Dep’t of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 87
So. 3d 712, 721 (Fla. 2012)). Courts have consistently found that an order
resolving only part of a civil lawsuit by requiring a party to make an interim
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payment while leaving intertwined factual matters unresolved presents the
type of irreparable harm and departure from the essential requirements of
the law remediable by issuance of a writ of certiorari. See, e.g., Team Richco,
LLC v. Rapid Sec. Sols., LLC, 290 So. 3d 629, 630 (Fla. 2d DCA 2020)
(issuing writ and quashing partial judgment that results in “irreparable injury
where it authorizes execution prior to entry of a final, appealable order”); East
Ave., LLC v. Insignia Bank, 136 So. 3d 659, 665 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014) (same).
Petition granted; the portions of the order that require payment prior to
the entry of a final judgment are quashed.
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