Summary
reversing order enforcing settlement agreement where one of the parties did not sign it and claimed that he had never agreed to it
Summary of this case from The Parkland Condo. Ass'n v. HendersonOpinion
No. 4D13–4344.
2015-07-29
Ian GARDNER, Appellant, v. WOLFE & GOLDSTEIN, P.A., Chutney Enterprises, Inc., A Florida Corporation, West Sunrise Development Corporation, A Florida Corporation, Thomas Austin and Mark Goldstein, Appellees.
Ian Gardner, Boca Raton, pro se. Edward J. O'Sheehan of Shutts & Bowen LLP, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee Chutney Enterprises, Inc.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Marina Garcia–Wood, Judge; L.T. Case No. CACE09026257.
Ian Gardner, Boca Raton, pro se. Edward J. O'Sheehan of Shutts & Bowen LLP, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee Chutney Enterprises, Inc.
PER CURIAM.
Ian Gardner appeals an order granting a motion to enforce a mediated settlement agreement, which he never agreed to and did not sign. We reverse.
Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.730(b) requires that mediated agreements be reduced to writing and signed by the parties. We considered a nearly identical claim in Dean v. Rutherford Mulhall, P.A., 16 So.3d 284, 286 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009). There, as here, the parties entered into mediation and arrived at an agreement, but Dean, a party, did not sign it. Nevertheless, the trial court entered an order enforcing the agreement. On appeal, we reversed, relying on Rule 1.730(b), and noting, “Florida courts consistently have held that a supposed settlement agreement resulting from mediation cannot be enforced absent the signatures of all parties.” Id. at 286. Moreover, we granted the relief despite the absence of a transcript of the hearing, because the record on its face showed that the party had not signed the agreement. On the same basis, we reverse the order enforcing the settlement agreement in the present case.
Reversed.