Stirman v. Michael

1 Citing case

  1. Russ v. Williams

    159 So. 3d 408 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2015)   Cited 6 times
    Affirming that amendment to change defendant in tort suit from husband to wife did not relate back because spouses are "separate individuals" and "each spouse has his or her own legal rights and obligations"

    SeeFla. R. Civ. P. 1.190(c) (“When a claim or defense asserted in the amended pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, the amendment shall relate back to the date of the original pleading.”). The cases in which this “identity of interest” exception has been applied to allow the addition of a new party defendant after the expiration of the statute of limitations involved the substitution of one corporate entity for another, see, e.g., Stirman v. Michael Graves Design Grp., Inc., 983 So.2d 626 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008); Williams v. Avery Dev. Co.-Boca Raton, 910 So.2d 851 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005); Arnwine, supra; Darden v. Beverly Health & Rehab., 763 So.2d 542 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000); Schwartz, supra;Kozich v. Shahady, 702 So.2d 1289 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997); Argenbright v. J.M. Fields Co., 196 So.2d 190 (Fla. 3d DCA 1967), or merely changed the capacity in which a defendant has been sued, see, e.g., Cabot v. Clearwater Constr. Co., 89 So.2d 662 (Fla.1956); Galuppi v. Viele, 232 So.2d 408 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970). The gist of the exception is that the relation-back doctrine applies when the new defendant is essentially one in the same as the existing defendant.