Cone v. Anderson, 2006 WL 2986471, 31 Fla. L. Weekly D2621 (Fla. 1st DCA Oct 20, 2006)
The 1st DCA’s opinion provides no facts whatsoever to explain what was going on when the trial court entered an order enjoining the trustee-defendant from seeking compensation without prior court approval (which begs the question: why even publish an opinion that provides close to zero guidance to future litigants??). However, reading between the lines I think what happened here was that the appellee obtained the injunctive order on an ex parte basis . . . which is a no-no in the absence of the compelling circumstances required by Civ. Pro. Rule 1.610 for ex parte injunctive relief:
Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.610 governs injunctions. If the language of an order is injunctive in nature, the order must comply with the requirements for the issuance of an injunction, even if the trial court merely intended to preserve the status quo in the order. See Spradley v. Old Harmony Baptist Church, 721 So.2d 735, 737 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998). In the present case, the trial court “enjoined” Cone from seeking any and all compensation until “further order of this Court or any other Court of competent jurisdiction.” Clearly, the language of the order is injunctive in nature. Appellee concedes that the trial court did not comply with rule 1.610. Accordingly, we REVERSE the order and QUASH the injunction.
Lesson learned:
Just because you’ve figured out the underlying substantive trust or probate law doesn’t mean you can’t get tripped up on the civil procedure.