Ana M. Espaillat v. Security First Insurance Company
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledAugust 5, 2020
Docket3D19-2238
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed August 5, 2020.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D19-2238
Lower Tribunal No. 19-14546
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Ana M. Espaillat,
Appellant,
vs.
Security First Insurance Company,
Appellee.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Martin Zilber,
Judge.
Giasi Law, P.A., and Melissa A. Giasi and Erin M. Berger (Tampa), for
appellant.
Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C., and Hope C. Zelinger, Nicole S. Houman and
Samantha S. Epstein (Fort Lauderdale), for appellee.
Before EMAS, C.J., and HENDON and GORDO, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Non-party appellant, Ana Espaillat (“non-party Appellant”), seeks review of
a non-final order granting in part Defendant Security First Insurance Company’s
motion to dismiss Plaintiff Juan Espiallat’s complaint, without prejudice, for failure
to join her as an indispensable party.1 In the alternative, non-party Appellant
requests this Court treat her appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari. We dismiss
the appeal as taken from a non-final, non-appealable order. See Euceda v. Se. Pers.
Leasing, Inc., 33 So. 3d 115 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010); Croes v. Univ. Cmty. Hosp., 886
So. 2d 1040, 1041 n.2 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004); Mendez v. Shoma Dev. Corp., 899 So.
2d 510 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005). More to the point, non-party Appellant is not a named
party to the litigation below, and has made no effort to intervene in the action or
cooperate in complying with the trial court’s order directed to Plaintiff Juan
Espiallat. As such, non-party Appellant has no standing to appeal. See Edwards v.
CIT Bank, N.A., 45 Fla. L. Weekly D1405 (Fla. 3d DCA June 10, 2020); Hood v.
Union Planters Bank, 941 So. 2d 1175, 1176 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006); Stas v. Posada,
760 So. 2d 954, 955 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999). Certiorari is not available as a remedy
1
The trial court’s order on Security First’s motion to dismiss to allow Plaintiff Jose
Espaillat to amend, or alternatively, allow him to move to join Ana Espaillat as a
party plaintiff, provides, “Granted in part. Plaintiff has 20 days to either amend the
Complaint to add Ana Espaillat as a Plaintiff or produce a release of all claims as to
Ana Espaillat. Defendant has 20 days following receipt of the aforementioned to
file a response.” The Plaintiff did neither. Instead, non-party Appellant filed this
appeal.
2
because the non-party Appellant has not yet been directly affected by the order
below. See Ahlers v. Wilson, 867 So. 2d 524 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004).
Dismissed.
3