[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

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No. 12-13811

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D.C. Docket No. 8:09-cv-02301-JSM-TGW

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN WILD

ANIMAL PARK, INC.,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

versus

STEARNS ZOOLOGICAL RESCUE &

REHAB CENTER, INC., d.b.a Dade City’s

Wild Things, et al.,

Defendants-Appellees.

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Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Middle District of Florida 

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(January 21, 2014)

Before TJOFLAT and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges, and Bucklew,* District Judge.

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*Honorable Susan C. Bucklew, United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida, 

sitting by designation.

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PER CURIAM:

We have had the benefit of oral argument in this case, and have also 

carefully considered the briefs and relevant parts of the record. We conclude that 

the judgment of the district court should be affirmed. We cannot conclude that the 

district court erred in granting judgment as a matter of law in favor of the 

defendants with respect to plaintiff’s tort claims – i.e., their claims for conversion, 

civil theft and fraud in the inducement. With respect to the latter claim, we readily 

conclude that there is no evidence of a pre-contractual misrepresentation. 

Moreover, there is insufficient evidence that any of defendants’ promises were 

made with present intent not to perform.

We conclude that plaintiff’s claims for conversion and civil theft fail for 

multiple reasons. With respect to the necessary element of plaintiff’s right to 

possess the property at issue, we conclude that plaintiff is collaterally estopped by 

the jury verdict that the defendant corporation is the rightful owner of the property. 

Alternatively, we conclude that no reasonable jury could find that defendants either 

converted the property or committed civil theft. There was very strong evidence 

that the animals and equipment were donated to the defendant corporation, as the 

jury found with respect to all of the property except the two white-handed 

Gibbons. All of the relevant forms with respect to the animals now at issue 

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indicated that the animals had been donated. And, with respect to equipment 

which Kenneth Stearns transported to the location of Dade City Wild Things, Dr. 

Bloome was present when the equipment was loaded onto Stearns’ tractor-trailer 

and also was present for a considerable time after the equipment was placed in the 

shed or hospital at Dade City Wild Things. With respect to Dr. Bloome’s office 

and medical equipment which was later removed from that shed or hospital and 

allegedly discarded, there was thus strong evidence that Dr. Bloome either agreed 

at the time of loading Kenneth Stearns’ tractor-trailer that this equipment would be 

donated to defendant, or acquiesced therein after it arrived. At most, there might 

have been issues of fact with respect to whether defendant breached an agreement 

with respect to same, but no reasonable jury could find that any defendant 

converted the property or committed civil theft. Finally, we are also not persuaded 

that plaintiff has identified any tortious acts that are sufficiently independent of the 

alleged breach of contract to render the tort claims viable. See Tiaro Condo Ass’n 

v. Marsh & McClennan Co., 110 So.2d 399 (Fla. 2013); id. at 407-10 (Pariente, J., 

concurring).

Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

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