Florida Court of Appeal Reverses Entry of Summary Judgment in Contract Dispute
In the case of Sean Lucey and the Lucey Corporation v. 1010 Logic Inc, the Florida Second District Court of Appeal found that the circuit court erroneously entered a finding of summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff. Here, we explore the background of this case and discuss what summary judgment is and why it is so important in business litigation cases.
The Background of the Case
In 2013, Lucey Corp and 1010 Logic signed a software design and technical support services contract. Under the terms of the contract, the services were to be provided by 1010 Logic. The contract specified that the design and support services that were to be provided had to meet certain general standards. If the standards were not met, Lucey would owe no payment for those particular services. Soon into the contract, Lucey became dissatisfied with the work that 1010 Logic was doing. As a result, Lucey decided to withhold three months worth of payment and terminate the remained of the contract. 1010 Logic responded by filing a breach of contract claim. Lucey defended this claim by asserting an affirmative defense. More specifically, Lucey argued that 1010 Logic failed to render substantial performance under the terms of the contract, and as such, they could not be held liable for a breach of contract. However, the circuit court disagreed and granted summary judgment in favor of 1010 Logic.
What is Summary Judgement and Why Does it Matter?
Summary judgment refers to a legal finding that has been entered by a court without a full trial ever taking place. Summary judgment can be issued on one specific issue involved in a case or on the entire case. When a court enters a summary judgment, it is essentially saying that there are no material facts at dispute in the case. For example, in the dispute involving Lucey and 1010 Logic, the circuit court granted summary judgment to 1010 Logic because it believed that Lucey failed to present any facts that could enable them to win the case. In other words, the court found that even if Lucey’s version of the facts were accepted as true, the company would still lose the contract dispute. This makes the summary judgment stage of litigation incredibly important. Of course, in this dispute, the appeals court found that there were material facts that were still in question and that could potentially tilt the case in favor of Lucey. To be clear, this does not mean that the appeals court believed that Lucey would ultimately prevail in the case, only that Lucey presented sufficient information to deserve a full trial on the issue of substantial contract performance.
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Resource:
2dca.org/opinions/Opinion_Pages/Opinion_Pages_2017/January/January%2020,%202017/2D15-5325.pdf
