Case Name: Daniel RICIGLIANO, Louis Benarducci, Robert Barnwell, Anthony Masiello, M. Jacqueline Henwood, Charles Paladino, Russel Pizzutto, David Modica, Eleanor Modica, Deborah W. Scoppechio, Robert A. Scoppechio, John R. Modica, Donna M. Modica, Robert Rohe, Samuel Rich, Martin Kamin, Linda Kamin, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Appellants, v. PEAT, MARWICK, MAIN & COMPANY, Timothy Hart, Henry Gayer, and Keith Cobb, all individually and jointly, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1991-08-21
Citations: 585 So. 2d 387
Docket Number: No. 91-1215
Parties: Daniel RICIGLIANO, Louis Benarducci, Robert Barnwell, Anthony Masiello, M. Jacqueline Henwood, Charles Paladino, Russel Pizzutto, David Modica, Eleanor Modica, Deborah W. Scoppechio, Robert A. Scoppechio, John R. Modica, Donna M. Modica, Robert Rohe, Samuel Rich, Martin Kamin, Linda Kamin, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Appellants, v. PEAT, MARWICK, MAIN & COMPANY, Timothy Hart, Henry Gayer, and Keith Cobb, all individually and jointly, Appellees.
Judges: DELL and STONE, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 585
Pages: 387–388

Head Matter:
Daniel RICIGLIANO, Louis Benarducci, Robert Barnwell, Anthony Masiello, M. Jacqueline Henwood, Charles Paladino, Russel Pizzutto, David Modica, Eleanor Modica, Deborah W. Scoppechio, Robert A. Scoppechio, John R. Modica, Donna M. Modica, Robert Rohe, Samuel Rich, Martin Kamin, Linda Kamin, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Appellants, v. PEAT, MARWICK, MAIN & COMPANY, Timothy Hart, Henry Gayer, and Keith Cobb, all individually and jointly, Appellees.
No. 91-1215.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
Aug. 21, 1991.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Oct. 9, 1991.
Christopher B. Knox, Law Offices of William P. Doyle, Hollywood, for appellants.
Lewis N. Brown and Linda H. Gottlieb, Gilbride, Heller & Brown, P.A., Miami, for appellees KPMG Peat Marwick and Keith Cobb.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
Appellants seek review of the trial court's denial of their motion for relief from a stay order. We treat appellants' non-final appeal as a petition for writ of common law certiorari and deny the petition. See Fla.R.App.P. 9.100.
Appellee, Peat, Marwick, Main & Company, is presently a defendant in several consolidated cases in federal court. The basis for these suits is the alleged fraudulent misrepresentation by Peat, Marwick, among others, in its dissemination of financial information relating to the sale of stock in Sahlen & Associates, Inc., a publicly held corporation. Subsequently, appellants filed the instant lawsuit seeking redress from Peat, Marwick and three of its employees for alleged misrepresentation and fraud in their financial statements representing the strength of Sahlen & Associates.
The trial court granted appellees' motion for stay based upon the previously filed, similar federal court action. Appellants seek relief from the stay on the grounds that the state and federal lawsuits are not sufficiently similar to warrant a stay. We disagree. While there is a disparity in the parties to the two actions, both suits seek to certify an almost identical class of plaintiffs. Further, the basis for the two actions are the same, the alleged false and fraudulent financial representations regarding Sahlen and Associates.
Trial courts are afforded broad discretion in granting or denying stays, and the state and federal actions sub judice are sufficiently similar to warrant the trial court's stay of the subsequently filed state action. See Neale v. Aycock, 340 So.2d 535 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976), cert. denied, 351 So.2d 405 (Fla.1977); Horowitz v. United Investors Corp., 227 So.2d 719 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969), cert. denied, 237 So.2d 180 (Fla.1970); 1 Am.Jur.2d Actions § 95; 1 Fla.Jur.2d Actions § 40. We hold that, under the facts, appellants have failed to show that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law and that they will suffer irreparable harm because of the stay.
Accordingly, we deny appellants' petition for common law certiorari.
CERTIORARI DENIED.
DELL and STONE, JJ., concur.
FARMER, J., concurs with opinion.