Court Opinion

ID: 9908261
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-08 15:03:33.971524+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:49:08.259219
License: Public Domain

FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                STATE OF FLORIDA
                 _____________________________

                       Case No. 5D23-211
                    LT Case No. 21-CA-1705
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FARAHNAZ GHANDI MCGLOTHIN,

    Appellant,

    v.

KYLE MCDONALD,

    Appellee.
                 _____________________________

Nonfinal appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County.
Virginia Norton, Judge.

Christian J. Lake, of Alexander Degance Barnett, P.A.,
Jacksonville, for Appellant.

Thomas S. Edwards, Jr., and Jennifer L. Reiber, of Edwards &
Ragatz, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellee.

                       December 8, 2023

EDWARDS, C.J.

    Appellant, Farahnaz Ghandi McGlothin, appeals the trial
court’s order granting Appellee, Kyle McDonald’s, motion to
amend his complaint to add a claim for punitive damages. We
agree that Appellee’s proffer was insufficient to support a claim
that Appellant’s placement of concrete blocks that restricted
drainage through a common grate constituted intentional
misconduct or gross negligence. Appellee proffered nothing to
suggest that Appellant had “actual knowledge” of the
wrongfulness of her conduct or that there was a high probability
that it would result in harm to Appellee. See Werner Enters., Inc.
v. Mendez, 362 So. 3d 278, 282 (Fla. 5th DCA 2023). Furthermore,
Appellee’s proposed amended complaint improperly set forth his
claim for punitive damages as a stand-alone count. See Keen v.
Jennings, 327 So. 3d 435, 438–39 (Fla. 5th DCA 2021) (citing Soffer
v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 187 So. 3d 1219, 1221 (Fla. 2016) and
Varnedore v. Copeland, 210 So. 3d 741, 745 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017));
see also Frugoli v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., 464 So. 2d 1292, 1293
(Fla. 1st DCA 1985). Accordingly, we reverse, quash the order
permitting Appellee to amend his complaint to seek punitive
damages, and remand for further proceedings in accordance with
this opinion.

    REVERSED; ORDER QUASHED and REMANDED for further
proceedings.

BOATWRIGHT, J., concurs.
JAY, J., dissents, without opinion.

                 _____________________________

    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
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