TALLAHASSEE — A panel for the 1st District Court of Appeal has dismissed a petition for writ of centori and refused to allow a high court review of a lower court decision.
The writ of centori is a request for a Supreme Court review of a case.
“Before certiorari can be used to review non-final orders, the appellate court must focus on the threshold jurisdictional question: whether there is a material injury that cannot be corrected on appeal, otherwise termed as irreparable harm," the panel wrote in the ruling.
The case involves Florida-based developer Landmark At Crescent Ridge as the original defendant seeking damages for an alleged breach of contract. The defendant motioned the court to dissolve plaintiff Everest Financial Inc.’s notice of intent to file suit against the defendant’s property. Landmark claimed that the notice encumbers the property and could hold up a potential sale.
The lower court denied motion, and Landmark appealed on the basis of “irreparable harm."
The court ruled that Everest Financial has an obligation to file the notice and that filing does not only not cause irreparable harm to Landmark but is in line with the purpose of informing third parties of a lawsuit and “its potential effect on ownership of the property.”
In dismissing the petition, the panel cited the holding in Agency for Health Care Admin. v. S. Broward Hosp.
Landmark “fails to clearly reflect how the potential ‘harm is incurable’ by a final appeal,” the panel wrote in the decision. “Financial harm via loss of a particular sale could conceivably constitute irreparable harm under circumstances not evident here. However, where the harm alleged is based on monetary damages, establishing irreparable harm will require specific facts to support the non-remediable nature of the injury.”
The court dismissed the writ and closed the case for further review.