MIAMI BUSINESS LITIGATION: FINAL ORDER APPEALS

There are generally two types of appeals in business litigation lawsuits – final appeals and non-final appeals. Fla. R. App. P. 9.110; Fla. R. App. P. 9.130. A final order appeal requires the underlying order to be final as the name suggests. “A final order or judgment is one which evidences on its face that it adjudicates the merits of, and disposes of, the matter before the court and leaves no judicial labor to be done.” Cardillo v. Qualsure Ins. Corp., 974 So. 2d 1174 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008). The title of the document does not matter. Instead, courts “review the content and substance of the order subject to appeal to discern whether the order fully and finally determines the rights of the parties involved in the lawsuit.” Colby III, Inc. v. Centennial Westland Mall Partners, LLC, 386 So. 3d 1003 (Fla. 3d DCA 2023). The Miami business litigation attorneys of the Mavrick Law Firm represent businesses and their owners in breach of contract litigation and related claims of fraud, non-compete agreement litigation, trade secret litigation, trademark infringement litigation, employment litigation, and other legal disputes in federal and state courts and in arbitration.

Non-final order appeals by contrast review certain types of non-final orders. The non-final orders that can be appealed are those that:

• concerns venue;
• grants, continues, modifies, denies, or dissolves injunctions or the appointment of receivers;
• determines of the jurisdiction of a person;
• determines the right to immediate possession of property;
• certifies a class;
• concerns forum non conveniens;
• concerns the unenforceability of a settlement agreement as a matter of law;
• grants or denies a motion for leave to assert a claim for punitive damages; or
• determines entitlement of a party to arbitration, confirm or deny confirmation of an arbitration award or partial arbitration award, or modify, correct, or vacate an arbitration award.

Fla. R. App. P. 9.130.

            It is not always easy for a litigant to determine whether an order is appealable. Imagine a scenario where your business was sued for breach of contract and you countersue for breach of the same contract. Further imagine that the court dismisses the counterclaim for some reason with prejudice. That order may seem appealable on its face as a final order because the dismissal with prejudice precludes the business from amending the counterclaim or otherwise reasserting the counterclaim. However, caselaw suggests otherwise. When counterclaim allegations are compulsory or interdependent with the allegations in the plaintiff’s original breach of contract action, the dismissal order is non-final. Lifshultz v. 20 Condominium Association, Inc., 300 So. 3d 1224 (2020) (holding that the order dismissing the counterclaim with prejudice was non-final because “because the claims asserted against the Association in the counterclaim are either compulsory,… or are otherwise interdependent with the pending claims asserted by the Association in its complaint.”). As a result, the appellate court will only review the order of dismissal if it falls within one of the categories discussed above. It is unlikely an order dismissing a counterclaim falls within the non-final order criteria because it probably does not pertain to venue, jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, injunctions, receivers, or class certification. The litigant in this scenario must, therefore, wait until the end of the lawsuit to appeal the dismissal order because the appellate court does not have jurisdiction until the matter is final. Dexx Med. Indus., CA v. Fitesa Naotecidos S.A., 346 So. 3d 1215 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022) (“Our appellate jurisdiction to review non-final orders is limited to only those orders specifically listed in rule 9.130(a)(3).”); Del Castillo v. Ralor Pharmacy, Inc., 512 So. 2d 315 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1987) (holding that the order dismissing the compulsory counterclaim was non-final and non-appealable until it merged with the final judgment).

The Miami business litigation lawyers of the Mavrick Law Firm also represent clients in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach. This article does not serve as a substitute for legal advice tailored to a particular situation.