Jarret Honahan v. Karen Burgeson
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledOctober 1, 2021
Docket2D20-2853
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
JARRET HONAHAN,
Appellant,
v.
KAREN BURGESON; SAFECO INSURANCE COMPANY OF
ILLINOIS; and GEICO GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY,
Appellees.
No. 2D20-2853
October 1, 2021
Appeal pursuant to Fla. R. App. P. 9.130 from the Circuit Court for
Pinellas County; George M. Jirotka, Judge.
William J. McFarlane, III and Michael K. Mittelmark of McFarlane
Dolan & Prince, Coral Springs, for Appellant.
Roy D. Wasson of Wasson & Associates, Miami; Richard A. Bokor of
Richard A. Bokor, P.A., Tampa; and Samuel R. Hillman, Clearwater,
for Appellee Karen Burgeson.
No appearance for remaining Appellees.
BLACK, Judge.
Jarret Honahan challenges the order denying his motion to
enforce the settlement agreement purportedly reached in the
underlying lawsuit between Janet Burgeson and Mr. Honahan. The
order states that the motion to enforce is denied, with no findings of
fact or conclusions of law, and Mr. Honahan has not provided this
court with a transcript of the hearing. Because the order does not
determine "that, as a matter of law, [the] settlement agreement is
unenforceable, is set aside, or never existed," we dismiss this appeal
as from a nonfinal, nonappealable order. See Fla. R. App. P.
9.130(a)(3)(C)(ix); Powell v. Woodard, 300 So. 3d 784, 785 (Fla. 1st
DCA 2020).
Although Mr. Honahan asserts that the trial court "made an
express determination that there was no settlement," that is simply
not reflected in the order on appeal. And because a determination
that no settlement agreement existed as a matter of law is only one
of the legal grounds for jurisdiction provided in rule
9.130(a)(3)(C)(ix), we cannot conclude that a denial necessarily
means that the trial court made such a determination. The denial
of a motion to enforce a settlement agreement without findings
could mean that the trial court determined (1) that a settlement
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agreement exists but is unenforceable, (2) that a settlement
agreement exists but is set aside, or (3) that a settlement agreement
never existed. Any of these determinations would give this court
jurisdiction, but they require different analyses. A fourth
possibility, one which clearly would not give this court jurisdiction
under the express terms of rule 9.130, is that the trial court denied
the motion to enforce for lack of sufficient evidence. This court
cannot presume that a determination giving us jurisdiction was
made, much less presume jurisdiction and then guess upon what
legal grounds the determination was made.
We note that our dismissal does not prevent Mr. Honahan
from again seeking to enforce the settlement agreement or from
otherwise obtaining an order from the trial court with sufficient,
supported findings. See Powell, 300 So. 3d at 785 ("[W]e in no way
suggest how the enforceability issue [should be] handled on
remand."); cf. Guillen v. Rodriguez, 300 So. 3d 1233, 1233 (Fla. 3d
DCA 2020) (affirming the order granting the motion to enforce a
settlement agreement "in the absence of any error of law discernible
on the face of the order reviewed").
Dismissed.
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VILLANTI and LaROSE, JJ., Concur.
Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.
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