Case Name: BANCO INDUSTRIAL de VENEZUELA, C.A., a Venezuelan banking institution, Appellant, v. Jose Gonzalo MEDEROS SUAREZ, a/k/a Jose Mederos and Diana Barron Mederos, a/k/a Diana Mederos, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1989-04-18
Citations: 541 So. 2d 1324
Docket Number: No. 87-3031
Parties: BANCO INDUSTRIAL de VENEZUELA, C.A., a Venezuelan banking institution, Appellant, v. Jose Gonzalo MEDEROS SUAREZ, a/k/a Jose Mederos and Diana Barron Mederos, a/k/a Diana Mederos, Appellees.
Judges: Before BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ., and WARREN H. COBB, Associate Judge.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 541
Pages: 1324–1329

Head Matter:
BANCO INDUSTRIAL de VENEZUELA, C.A., a Venezuelan banking institution, Appellant, v. Jose Gonzalo MEDEROS SUAREZ, a/k/a Jose Mederos and Diana Barron Mederos, a/k/a Diana Mederos, Appellees.
No. 87-3031.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
April 18, 1989.
Richey & Munroe, P.A., and Alan S. Fine and William Richey, Miami, for appellant.
Michael Zelman, Miami, for appellees.
Before BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ., and WARREN H. COBB, Associate Judge.

Opinion:
JORGENSON, Judge.
Banco Industrial de Venezuela, C.A. (BIV), appeals from an order of the trial court which granted the motion of Jose and Diana Mederos to dissolve a temporary injunction. For the following reasons, we reverse the trial court's order.
BIV filed a four-count verified complaint against the Mederoses and other defendants not parties to this appeal. The bank alleged common law fraud, conspiracy, debt, and criminal enterprise in violation of section 895.03(3) of the Florida Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. In its complaint, BIV detailed the mechanics of an extensive and sophisticated scheme to take corrupt advantage of an import assistance program established by the Venezuelan government. As part of the scheme, the Mederoses and other defendants allegedly forged bills of lading, presented them to BIV for payment and, by manipulating the program's preferential rate of exchange, stole from BIV an amount in excess of $2.3 million.
BIV filed a motion for a temporary injunction enjoining the defendants from disposing of "any assets, whatever their present form, representing, in whole or in part, funds derived from payments" by BIV. The motion was granted. The trial court also granted BIV's ore tenus motion to amend its complaint to add a count for the imposition of a constructive trust. The Mederoses filed a motion for dissolution or modification of the temporary injunction. After a hearing, the trial court determined that it could not issue a temporary injunction or impose a constructive trust in light of BIV's inability, prior to any discovery, to identify specifically or to trace the stolen funds to assets held by the Mederoses. The trial court entered an order granting the motion to dissolve the injunction and denying BIV's ore tenus motion to impose an immediate constructive trust.
In so ruling, the trial court correctly relied upon Finkelstein v. Southeast Bank, N.A., 490 So.2d 976 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986), which was the first judicial treatment of section 895.05(6), Florida Statutes (1985). With due deference to our sister court, however, in our view insufficient weight was given to the substantial differences between the federal and Florida RICO statutes. Unlike its federal counterpart, the Florida RICO statute contains an express provision for private injunctive relief. Section 895.05(6) permits
[an] aggrieved person [to] institute a proceeding under subsection (1). In such proceeding, relief shall be granted in conformity with the principles that govern the granting of injunctive relief from threatened loss or damage in other civil cases, except that no showing of special or irreparable damage to the person shall have to be made. Upon the execution of proper bond against damages for an injunction improvidently granted and a showing of immediate danger of significant loss or damage, a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction may be issued in any such action before a final determination on the merits.
Section 895.05(1) provides, in relevant part:
Any circuit court may, after making due provision for the rights of innocent persons, enjoin violations of the provisions of s. 895.03 by issuing appropriate orders and judgments....
In Finkelstein, the court construed section 895.05(6) as requiring the party seeking a preliminary injunction to meet the common law requirements for injunc-tive relief. Finkelstein, 490 So.2d at 980. We construe the adverbial phrase "[i]n such proceeding," found in section 895.-05(6), as referring to the 'permanent in-junctive proceedings treated in section 895.-05(1). In determining whether to grant permanent injunctive relief, therefore, we agree with the Finkelstein court that common law principles remain applicable, except for a showing of "irreparable damage" which the statute obviates. As we read the plain language of the balance of section 895.05(6), the only requirements for a preliminary injunction under the Florida RICO Act, upon the filing of a verified complaint, are (1) posting a sufficient bond against damages, and (2) showing an "immediate danger of significant loss or damage." Where a plaintiff under the Florida RICO Act has filed a verified complaint, furnished a sufficient bond, and made the requisite showing, the statutory criteria for a preliminary injunction are satisfied.
Our construction is supported not only by the plain language of the statute, but also by the enabling clauses of the Act, which contain clear legislative findings that the national scope of organized crime is highly sophisticated and diverse and that the same patterns of unlawful conduct exist in Florida, making it "necessary to provide new criminal and civil remedies and procedures_" RICO Act, ch. 77-334, 1977 Fla. Laws 1399 (emphasis supplied). It is highly unlikely that the Florida legislature drafted and passed the RICO Act with nothing more in mind than merely codifying the common law regarding preliminary injunctions. We think the point is well taken that
[it] would have been eminently reasonable for the legislature, in view of the type of wrongdoer the RICO statute is meant to punish, to have relaxed the common law requirements for temporary injunctions so that the plaintiff, at the close of the lawsuit, would be able to seize some of the moneys he was deprived of by fraud or theft. In sum, the primary mischief the statute addresses is the likelihood that a party charged with RICO violations will get rid of his assets before the RICO plaintiff can obtain a judgment and attachment. And the true reason for the remedy is that there may well exist other parties seeking to sequester the defendant's assets who can accomplish this purpose before a successful adjudication on the merits is ever reached.
Note, 14 Fla.St.U.L.Rev. 975, 983 (1986). Having filed a verified complaint, posted a surety bond, and made a sufficient showing of immediate danger of significant loss, BIV is entitled, as a matter of law, to a temporary injunction. We certify conflict with our sister court's decision in Finkel-stein.
The order dissolving the temporary injunction is reversed, and the cause is remanded with directions to reinstate the injunction.
. Section 895.03(3), Florida Statutes (1985), provides that
[i]t is unlawful for any person employed by, or associated with, any enterprise to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in such enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity or the collection of an unlawful debt.
. BIV alleged 110 criminal acts. The verified complaint was accompanied by copies of forged bills of lading and the sworn affidavit of an independent freight forwarder corroborating certain of the forgeries.
. See, e.g., Federal Deposit Ins. Co. v. Antonio, 843 F.2d 1311 (10th Cir.1988) (federal law not relevant in determining district court's power to issue preliminary injunction under state RICO act; in FDIC action as bank's receiver to recover funds allegedly diverted from bank due to fraudulent scheme, district court had authority under state RICO act to freeze assets not traceable to illegal conduct).
. We need not reach the merits of the constructive trust theory advanced by BIV and rejected by the trial court because BIV is entitled to preliminary injunctive relief under section 895.-05(6), Florida Statutes (1985). We note that the decision in USACO Coal Co. v. Carbomin Energy, Inc., 689 F.2d 94 (6th Cir.1982), relied upon by BIV in support of its "novel theory," represents an example of a federal court invoking common law doctrine to issue a temporary injunction freezing the defendant's assets because the federal RICO statute makes no express provision for such relief.