In both Florida and federal practice, an original pleading is superseded by an amended pleading which does not indicate an intention to preserve any portion of the original pleading. See Oceanside Plaza Condo. Ass'n v. Foam King Indus., Inc., 206 So. 3d 785, 787 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016) ("Long-standing Florida case law makes clear that the filing of an amended complaint constitutes an abandonment of the original complaint which was superseded, [and it] ceased to be part of the record and could no longer be viewed as a pleading.") (punctuation and citations omitted). As stated in Hoefling v. City of Miami,
(ECF No. 41 at 5, ¶ 14.) The original state-court complaint, however, is not the operative complaint in the underlying case, nor was it when Flectat filed this case (see, e.g., Second Am. Comp., ECF No. 39-1). Oceanside Plaza Condo. Ass'n v. Foam King Indus., Inc., 206 So. 3d 785, 787 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016) ("Long-standing Florida law makes clear that the filing of an amended complaint constitutes an abandonment of the original complaint . . . and it cease[s] to be part of the record and [can] no longer be viewed as a pleading.") (alterations and citations omitted). Even a cursory review of the initial underlying complaint and the Fourth Amended Complaint demonstrates that the state-court plaintiffs have made several changes to their allegations and additional parties are now involved in the underlying case.
Thus, the court erred in entering judgment on documents on matters outside the pleadings. This case is similar to Oceanside Plaza Condominium Ass'n v. Foam King Industries, Inc. , 206 So.3d 785, 787 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016). There, a condo association sued a roofing company, alleging faulty roofing materials and installation.
For example, Cousins cites to certain allegations contained in earlier, superseded complaints to emphasize he has "repeatedly complied with [r]ule 1.120"; and does not refer to allegations contained in subsequent operative complaints. See Oceanside Plaza Condo. Ass'n v. Foam King Indus., Inc., 206 So.3d 785, 787 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016) ("Long-standing Florida case law makes clear that the filing of an amended complaint constitutes an abandonment of the original complaint which [is] superseded, and it cease[s] to be part of the record and [can] no longer be viewed as a pleading.") (alterations, citations, and internal quotation marks omitted); see also Caraffa v. Carnival Corp., 34 So.3d 127, 130 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010) (stating rule that "[p]rior pleadings are superceded by the amendment"). Notably, in the subsequent amended complaints, Cousins clarified his underlying claims against Post-Newsweek and made substantive changes in support of those new allegations, including the allegations addressing compliance with conditions precedent.