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424 So. 2d 171

Goodman v. Habif

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided January 4, 1983

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1983-01-04

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“is an affirmative defense which must be pleaded and proved before relief can be granted.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 456 So. 2d 1254 - Symons Corp. v. Tartan-Lavers Delray Beach

Relies on 285 So. 2d 7 - Hammonds v. Buckeye Cellulose Corporation · Vaswani v. Ganobsek · Phoenix Insurance Company v. McQueen

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1983-01-04

How this case has been cited

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently December 2004

3 state decisions

10198319902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

BASKIN, Judge.

¶1We reverse the trial court’s dismissal of appellants’ second amended complaint seeking to terminate a lease. The complaint stated a cause of action under the terms of the lease which required the lessee to deposit specified amounts in an escrow account, to pay taxes and to be responsible for reasonable attorneys’ fees in the event of default and court action.

¶2On a motion to dismiss, the trial court’s function is to determine whether the complaint states a cause of action. Hammonds v. Buckeye Cellulose Corp., 285 So.2d 7 (Fla.1973). Unless affirmative defenses appear on the face of the complaint, they may not be considered. Vaswani v. Ganobsek, 402 So.2d 1350 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981). Estoppel is an affirmative defense which must be pleaded and proved before relief can be granted. Phoenix Insurance Co. v. McQueen, 286 So.2d 570 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973).

¶3Accordingly, we reverse the Final Order of Dismissal of the complaint and counterclaim and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

¶4HENDRY, J., dissents.

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