Case Name: John M. TYSON, Appellant, v. VIACOM, INC., a Delaware corporation, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2005-01-12
Citations: 890 So. 2d 1205
Docket Number: No. 4D01-4554
Parties: John M. TYSON, Appellant, v. VIACOM, INC., a Delaware corporation, Appellee.
Judges: FARMER, C.J., GUNTHER, WARNER, KLEIN, STEVENSON, SHAHOOD, GROSS and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 890
Pages: 1205–1226

Head Matter:
John M. TYSON, Appellant, v. VIACOM, INC., a Delaware corporation, Appellee.
No. 4D01-4554.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
Jan. 12, 2005.
Rehearing Denied Jan. 12, 2005.
Mary B. Meeks of DeCubellis & Meeks, P.A., Orlando, for appellant.
Robert W. Pittman of Steel, Hector & Davis, LLP, Miami, and Lawrence P. Bemis of Kirkland & Ellis, Los Angeles, CA, for appellee.

Opinion:
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING EN BANC
PER CURIAM.
We grant Tyson's motion for rehearing en banc, withdraw our previous opinion, and substitute the following opinion in its place. We conclude that Tyson's claims were not barred by res judicata, the rule against splitting causes of action, or the statute of limitations, and reverse.
John Tyson appeals a final judgment entered following the trial court's order granting Viacom's motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted the motion on the grounds that Tyson's second complaint alleging breach of employment contract and fraud in the inducement was barred by the doctrine of res judicata and the statute of limitations. Because we conclude that Tyson's claims are not barred by either res judicata or the statute of limitations, we reverse.
The relevant facts of this employment dispute case are as follows. Tyson commenced employment with the Blockbuster unit of Viacom in May 1996, at which time Mark Gilman was employed as the Señor Vice-President of Strategic Analysis. The United States District Court for the District of Oregon entered an injunction and judgment against Gilman on June 27, 1996. The injunction prohibited Gilman from using or disclosing the confidential information of his former employer, Hollywood Entertainment Corporation (which operates Hollywood Video), and specifically enjoined Gilman from directing domestic field operations at Blockbuster until April 1997. Domestic fields were defined as: "the selection, construction, design or operation of stores, but shall not include corporate level systems related to such functions, so long as such systems do not direct any field personnel, but merely provide the process by which to operate."
On July 30, 1996, Tyson executed an employment agreement with Blockbuster. Tyson's agreed position was Senior Vice-President — Development—Domestic Video, and his job responsibilities were set forth in an attachment to the contract. These job responsibilities included overseeing real estate and construction programs.
After Tyson executed the employment agreement, Gilman undertook tasks specified in Tyson's job description that allegedly violated the terms of the federal injunction. On November 17, 1996, Tyson faxed documents to the federal court in Oregon detailing Gilman's activities in violation of the injunction. On November 25, 1996, Tyson's employment with Blockbuster was terminated. On February 11, 1997, Tyson filed his first complaint alleging claims for breach of contract and violation of Florida's whistle blower statute, section 448.102(2), Fla. Stat. (1991).
On June 6, 1997, the trial court dismissed Tyson's whistle blower claim with leave to amend for failure to state a cause of action. Tyson did not amend the whistle blower claim but continued to litigate the breach of contract claim. After a year and a half, Viacom filed a motion for summary judgment on the breach of contract claim, and instead of responding to the motion, Tyson voluntarily dismissed without prejudice the claim for breach of contract.
Tyson then appealed the trial court's dismissal of the whistle blower claim to this Court. We affirmed the dismissal of the whistle blower claim by opinion on June 7, 2000. See Tyson v. Viacom, Inc., 760 So.2d 276 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000). In affirming, we held that Tyson's claim did not satisfy the definitional requirements of the statute.
On November 22, 2000, Tyson filed a second complaint alleging a claim for breach of contract nearly identical to that in the first complaint, and for the first time, a claim for fraud in the inducement. The following new factual allegations were included in the second complaint. Viacom was aware that accepting employment with Blockbuster would require Tyson to discontinue his law practice in North Carolina and relocate to Fort Lauderdale. Blockbuster did not disclose to Tyson that it had offered his position to Gilman but withdrew the offer due to the injunction proceedings. Blockbuster also did not inform Tyson of its intention to use him as a smoke screen to permit Gilman to perform many of Tyson's job responsibilities in violation of the injunction entered against Gilman. Blockbuster did not disclose its intention to relocate its headquarters to Texas to Tyson.
Viacom filed an answer including affirmative defenses and asserted that Tyson's breach of contract and fraud in the inducement claims were barred by res judicata and that his fraud in the inducement claim was also barred by the statute of limitations. Viacom filed a motion for summary judgment based on the res judicata and statute of limitations defenses. As to res judicata, Viacom argued that the second complaint was barred because the first and second complaints were based on identical facts, and therefore, should have been litigated in the same action.
As to the statute of limitations barring the fraud in the inducement claim, Viacom alleged that Tyson was aware of all of the facts central to the fraud in the inducement claim by November 17, 1996 when he contacted the federal court in Oregon, and therefore, the claim filed on November 22, 2000 fell outside the four-year statute of limitations so as to bar the claim.
The trial court granted Viacom's motion for summary judgment, citing three cases. A final judgment based on the order was entered, and this appeal ensued.
RES JUDICATA
Res judicata has been defined as follows:
"A judgment on the merits rendered in a former suit between the same parties or their privies, upon the same cause of . action, by a court of competent jurisdiction, is conclusive not only as to every matter which was offered and received to sustain or defeat the claim, but as to every other matter which might with propriety have been litigated and determined in that action."
Huff Groves Trust v. Caulkins Indiantown Citrus Co., 810 So.2d 1049, 1050 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002)(quoting Kimbrell v. Paige, 448 So.2d 1009, 1012 (Fla.1984)). Four identities are required for res judicata to be applicable to a case:. " '(1). identity in the thing sued for; (2) identity of, the cause of action; (3) identity of the persons and parties to the actions; and (4) identity of the quality or capacity of the, persons for or against whom the claim is made.' " Freehling v. MGIC Fin. Corp., 437 So.2d 191, 193 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983)(quoting Seaboard Coast Line RR. Co. v. Indus. Contracting Co., 260 So.2d 860, 862 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972)).
Identity of the cause of action is the requirement at issue in the case at bar. The presence of this identity is a question of "whether the facts or evidence necessary to maintain the suit are the same in both actions." Albrecht v. State, 444 So.2d 8, 12 (Fla.1984), superseded by statute on other grounds, Bowen v. Fla. Dep't of Envtl. Regulation, 448 So.2d .566 (Fla. 2d D.CA 1984)(emphasis added); see U.S. Project Mgmt., Inc. v. Parc Royale E. Dev., Inc., 861 So.2d 74, 76 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)(same); Gold v. Bankier, 840 So.2d 395, 397 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)(quoting Cole v. First Dev. Corp. of Am., 339 So.2d 1130, 1131 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976)(citing Gordon v. Gordon, 160 Fla. 838, 36 So.2d 774 (1948)))(" 'Identity of the causes of action is established where the facts which are required to maintain both actions are identical.' ")(emphasis added).
In Tyson's case, the facts necessary to prove his three claims were'not identical. For purposes of illustrating this conclusion, we will discuss Tyson's whistle blower claim despite the fact that this Court in an earlier opinion concluded it was properly dismissed for failure to state a cause of action. To prove a whistle blower claim, Tyson would have had to show that he was terminated by Viacom in retaliation for his disclosure of Gilman's injunction violations. See § 448.102, Fla. Stat. Therefore, the facts and evidence necessary to maintain this claim are the existence of the injunction against Gilman, Gilman's acts in violation of the injunction, his disclosure of the violations to the federal court in Oregon, and his termination by Viacom.
To prove the breach of contract claim, Tyson had to prove the existence of -the employment agreement, including the duties imposed on Viacom, and that Viacom's breach of the contract was the legal cause of his damages. See Fla. Std. Jur. Instr. (Civ.) 12.1. Therefore, the facts and evidence necessary to maintain this claim are the existence of a contract and the terms expressed in it, such as termination only for good cause, that he was terminated for other than good cause, and that he was damaged by Viacom's actions.
To prove the fraud in the inducement claim, Tyson had to prove that Viacom made a misrepresentation to Tyson regarding a material fact, that Viacom knew or should have known that the statement was false, that Viacom .intended for Tyson to rely on the statement, and that Tyson suffered injury as a result of his justifiable reliance on the misrepresentation. See Samuels v. King Motor Co. of Fort Lauderdale, 782 So.2d 489, 497 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001). Therefore, the facts and evidence necessary to maintain this claim are Via- corn's misrepresentations regarding Tyson's job responsibilities, Viacom's knowledge that the misrepresentations were false, Viacom's intention for the misrepresentations to induce Tyson into employment, and Tyson's damages resulting from his justifiable reliance on the misrepresentations.
A review of Tyson's three claims reveals that the facts necessary to maintain each of the claims are not identical. Although the facts may overlap to a degree, this does not result in the breach of contract and fraud in the inducement claims in the second complaint being barred by res judi-cata. Pre-contract misrepresentations about job duties and Tyson's termination are facts necessary to establish fraud in the inducement, but different facts support the breach of contract and dismissed whistle blower claims.
For the breach of contract claim, the only operative facts are that a contract was executed and that Tyson was terminated in breach of that contract. It does not matter that Viacom made false pre-contract representations to Tyson or that there was an injunction against Gilman. As for the dismissed whistle blower claim, the only significant facts are that an injunction existed and was violated, that Tyson reported the violations, and that Tyson was terminated. It does not matter that Tyson was employed under a contract or that misrepresentations were made about his job responsibilities. Termination may be a common ingredient of each claim, but each claim is based on different facts, as was demonstrated by Tyson's addition of facts to the second complaint that were necessary only for the fraud in the inducement claim.
Because the final judgment in the prior ease addressed only the whistle blower count, res judicata does not bar the breach of contract and fraud in the inducement claims raised by Tyson in his second complaint. This is unquestionably the case because the breach of contract claim was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. The final judgment is therefore not a determination by a court of competent jurisdiction, on the merits or otherwise, of that claim. For that reason, res judicata, by definition, cannot bar the breach of contract claim raised in Tyson's second complaint. See Froman v. Kirland, 753 So.2d 114, 116 (Fla.4th DCA 1999)("One of the requirements for res judicata to apply is that the claim must have been adjudicated on the merits. A voluntary dismissal without prejudice will not support a claim of res judieata.")(internal citations omitted); see also Universal Constr. Co. v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 68 So.2d 366, 370 (Fla.1953)(holding that res judica-ta did not bar quantum meruit claim because it was not brought in the first action, according to the language of the final judgment).
In sum, we conclude that Tyson's second complaint, stating claims for breach of contract and fraud in the inducement, was not barred by res judicata.
RULE AGAINST SPLITTING CAUSES OF ACTION
The dissent, however, does not believe that this Court's analysis ends with our conclusion on res judicata. The dissent contends that Tyson's claims for breach of contract and fraud in the inducement are barred by the rule against splitting causes of action. For the following reasons, we disagree with this conclusion.
The rule against splitting causes of action is "an aspect of the doctrine of res judicata." Froman, 753 So.2d at 116 (citing Alvarez v. Nestor Salesco, Inc., 695 So.2d 941 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)). The rule provides that: "[A]s a general rule the law mandatorily requires that all .damages sus tained or accruing to one as a result of a single wrongful act must be claimed and recovered in one action or not at all." Id. (quoting Gaynon v. Statum, 151 Fla. 793, 10 So.2d 432, 433 (1942), superseded by statute on other grounds as stated in, Goldman v. Kent Cleaners & Laundry, Inc., 110 So.2d 50 (Fla. 3d DCA 1959))(em-phasis added).
Res judicata and impermissible splitting of causes of action are not interchangeable concepts barring the bringing of claims. Because the rule against splitting causes of action is only an aspect of res judicata, it logically follows that if res judicata is not a bar to the bringing of a claim, impermissible splitting of causes of action is not either. Said another way, one who impermissibly splits causes of action may run afoul of res judicata, but one who runs afoul of res judicata may not have done so by impermissibly splitting causes of action, as the claim could be barred based on another aspect of res judicata. See State v. Freund, 626 So.2d 1043, 1045 n. 1 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993)(stating that collateral estoppel is an aspect of res judica-ta); Saenz v. Saenz, 602 So.2d 973, 974 n. 1 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)(stating that the "change of circumstance" rule is an aspect of res judicata).
Even if this were not the case, the claims at stake are not the result of "a single wrongful act." Only the fraud in the inducement claim is a result of any wrongful misrepresentations regarding Tyson's job responsibilities. The breach' of contract and dismissed whistle blower claims could exist even if Viacom did not make such representations. The alleged wrongful contract breach for termination in the absence of good cause is of no moment to whether fraud in the inducement or a whistle blower violation occurred. This is the case even though the dismissed whistle blower claim requires termination, because that claim does not rest on the breach of a contract.
Likewise, only the dismissed whistle blower claim requires a wrongful retaliatory termination. Although the breach of contract claim requires termination, this claim does not rest on wrongful retaliation. Each of the three claims is based on separate wrongful acts, each of which could have occurred without the other. It is true that they all occurred in the course of Tyson's employment, but the course of employment was not itself the wrongful act giving rise to Tyson's claims. It is merely Tyson's uncharmed misfortune to suffer three potential claims within the course of one employment relationship.
The dissent, in its combined consideration of res judicata and the rule against splitting causes of action, also makes much of its contention that Florida follows a "transactional" approach y/hen considering such affirmative defenses. The dissent defines the "transactional" approach with federal ca^e law, such as Welch v. Johnson, 907 F.2d 714 (7th Cir.1990), which indicates that even where claims are stated based on different legal theories, they still constitute one cause of action "if a single group of operative facts give rise to the assertion of relief." Id. at 720.'
In the present case, Tyson's three claims plainly are not based on "a single group of operative facts.'' The facts supporting the three claims have no relationship to each other, except that they all occurred within the context of an employment relationship., The group of operative facts giving rise to the fraud in the inducement claim is different from that giving rise to the breach of contract claim which is different from that giving rise to -the dismissed whistle blower claim. The ease at bar can be distinguished from cases cited .by the dissent, because unlike the example in Nunley v. Kloehn, 158 F.R.D. 614 (E.D.Wis.1994), this is not a case alleging two types of discrimination or two types of discrimination-based termination. Id. at 617. Rather, in this case, Tyson alleged one type of fraud in the inducement, one type of breach of contract, and one type of whistle blower termination. As a result, it cannot be said that Tyson's entire employment relationship, from pre-contract negotiations to termination, constitutes a single transaction. See Scovell v. Delco Oil Co., 798 So.2d 844, 846 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)(landlords did not split cause of action by bringing two separate actions under single lease, one for accelerated payment of rent and one for failure to remove petroleum storage equipment); Bryant v. Allstate Ins. Co., 584 So.2d 194 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991) (insured does not split cause of action by suing separately for breach of individual coverage issues contained in single insurance policy); Popwell v. Abel, 226 So.2d 418 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969) (separate suits on check and breach of contract under which check was issued did not improperly split cause of action).
Even if the claims at bar were based on a single transaction, the cases cited by the dissent do not compel its conclusion. Signo v. Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co., 454 So.2d 3 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984), and Huff Groves Trust, are cases dealing with the rule against splitting causes of action. That rule, being only an aspect of res judicata, is necessarily limited in scope to the question of whether the claims arise from "a single wrongful act," or a transaction giving rise to multiple claims; for example, for two types of employment discrimination or both physical and property damage in a motor vehicle accident case. Therefore, these cases are not determinative of the manner in which Florida courts consider the applicability of the broader principle of res judicata, especially to a case involving three distinct claims and sets of operative facts.
This conclusion is grounded in the interplay of res judicata and the rule against splitting causes of action aspect of res judicata. Res judicata defines a cause of action in terms of identical facts. See Gold, 840 So.2d at 397. The rule against splitting causes of action defines a cause of action in terms of a single wrongful act. See Froman, 753 So.2d at 116. Within one set of identical facts, three wrongful acts could exist. In such a circumstance, bringing separate claims in separate complaints based on each wrongful act would not run afoul of the rule against splitting causes of action. However, this factual scenario would still run afoul of res judica-ta because the three separate claims would be based on identical facts. This hurdle is overcome where there are three separate sets of facts in addition to three separate wrongful acts. In such a circumstance there are three claims, each of which constitutes an independent cause of action capable of being raised in separate complaints. Therefore, neither res judicata nor the rule against splitting causes of action will bar a second complaint including two claims in such a circumstance.
The reality that the three separate sets of facts may exist within a larger set of facts, such as an employment relationship, is no obstacle to this conclusion, because "the whole is more than the sum of its parts." Aristotle, Metaphysica. Other facts exist in the context of the whole, so that the whole is not identical to any of its three component sets of facts, just as they are not identical to each other. If this were not our approach to res judicata, a slippery slope could soon bar a range of suits related only by the broadest of contexts, such as the provision of medical care and treatment by all types of professionals to all patients for all ailments.
As a result of the foregoing analysis, we conclude that the rule against splitting causes of action is no bar to Tyson's breach of contract and fraud in the inducement claims.
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
The statute of limitations for a'fraud in the inducement claim'is four years. See § 95.11(3)©, Fla. Stat. Section 95.031(2)(a) addresses the accrual of a claim for fraud in the inducement and provides that it occurs when "the facts giving rise to the cause of action were discovered or should have been discovered with the exercise of due diligence."
In this case, the statute of limitations issue hinges on when Tyson suffered the injury as a result of his justifiable rebanee on the misrepresentations. Tyson did not suffer any injury until he was terminated, allegedly in retaliation for reporting the injunction violations, on November 25, 1996. See Food Fair, Inc. v. Anderson, 382 So.2d 150, 154-155 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980)(eircumstances of employment termination may constitute injury for purposes of a fraud in the inducement claim). Tyson may have been aware of the misrepresentations and the smoke screen scheme, but that awareness alone did no injpry to him. He could not be expected to anticipate his termination simply because his work environment was less than ideal. See Byington v. A.H. Robins Co., 580 F.Supp. 1513, 1515 (S.D.Fla.1984)(citing Steiner v. Ciba-Geigy Corp., 364 So.2d 47, 53 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978))("the plaintiff is on notice only after she has suffered damage or injury ('trauma')."). Therefore, Tyson's claim for fraud in the inducement did not accrue until November 25, 1996 when he suffered the injury of termination. Thus, the complaint filed on November 22, 2000 fell within the four-year statute of limitations. As a result, Tyson's claim was not barred by the statute of limitations.
In sum, the trial court erred by granting Viacom's motion for summary judgment and entering final judgment. Tyson's claims for breach of contract and fraud in the inducement are not barred by res judi-cata, because they are not based on identical facts. The claims also are not barred by the rule against splitting causes of action because that rule is only an aspect of res judicata and the claims in this ease do not result from a "single wrongful act." Nor is the fraud in the inducement claim barred by the statute of limitations, because the claim accrued and the statute began to run only upon Tyson's termination. Therefore, we reverse and remand.
For the reasons expressed in the specially concurring opinion of Judge Gross, we hereby recede from our prior decisions in Huff Groves Trust v. Caulkins Indian-town Citrus Co., 810 So.2d 1049 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), Florida Patient's Compensation Fund v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co., 535 So.2d 335 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988), and Thermofin, Inc. v. Woodruff, 491 So.2d 344 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986), all of which are in conflict with our holding in this ease.
REVERSED AND REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
FARMER, C.J., GUNTHER, WARNER, KLEIN, STEVENSON, SHAHOOD, GROSS and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
GROSS, J., concurs specially with opinion, in which FARMER, C.J., . WARNER, KLEIN and SHAHOOD, JJ., concur.
MAY, J., dissents with opinion, in which POLEN, J., concurs.
STONE, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with opinion.
- HAZOURI, J., recused.
. The definitional requirements of the statute were not satisfied because Viacom's alleged violation of the injunction did not constitute a "violation of law, rule, or regulation" and the federal district court that issued the injunction did not constitute an "agency" as required to state a claim under the Whistle Blower's Act.
. Fla. Patient's Comp. Fund v. Cohen, 488 So.2d 56 (Fla. 1986); Fla. Patient's Comp. Fund v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 535 So.2d 335 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988); Quality Type & Graphics v. Guetzloe, 513 So.2d 1110 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987).