CHICAGO TITLE INSURANCE AGENCY OF LEE COUNTY, INC., a Florida Corporation, Appellant,
v.
CHICAGO TITLE INSURANCE CO., a Missouri Corporation Registered to Do Business in the State of Florida, Appellee.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
*297 Robert W. Merkle of Merkle and Magri, P.A., Tampa, and Diane E. McGill of Turk and Shipp, Cape Coral, for appellant.
J. Jeffrey Rice of Goldberg, Goldstein & Buckley, P.A., Fort Myers, for appellee.
THREADGILL, Judge.
Appellant, Chicago Title Insurance Agency of Lee County (Chicago Title of Lee County), appeals the denial of its motion to dismiss the complaint for injunction filed by Chicago Title Insurance Company (Chicago Title) and also appeals the preliminary mandatory injunction issued by the trial court. We dismiss, for lack of jurisdiction, the appeal from the order denying the motion to dismiss, but reverse the preliminary mandatory injunction.
Our jurisdiction to consider nonfinal orders is limited by court rule. Perimeter Investments, Inc. v. Amerifirst Development Co. of Central Florida, Inc.,
Chicago Title is a Missouri corporation which has been underwriting title insurance policies in Florida since 1963; it was incorporated in Florida in 1972. Chicago Title of Lee County has been issuing title policies with the word "Chicago" in its name since its inception in 1971.
Chicago Title of Lee County contends that the court issued the injunction without sufficient evidence of irreparable injury. The purpose of a preliminary injunction is to preserve the status quo which existed before the controversy, not to take sides. Lieberman v. Marshall,
*298 A preliminary mandatory injunction is proper where irreparable harm will result unless the status quo is maintained, where a party has a clear legal right to the relief and no adequate remedy at law, and, in certain cases, where the public interest is a factor. Martin v. Pinellas County,
Chicago Title's complaint alleges that irreparable harm would result from the public's confusion of the two companies and the necessity for multiple lawsuits for redress of damages. We note, however, that Chicago Title has allowed the public to be confused for twelve years and has not explained why the confusion has now become an emergency justifying a preliminary injunction. Multiple lawsuits will not spring up before the final hearing on the complaint.
Neither allegation of irreparable harm justifies the preliminary injunction. Moreover, Chicago Title presented no additional evidence of irreparable harm at the preliminary hearing. Therefore, we reverse the order granting a preliminary mandatory injunction and remand with leave to pursue a permanent injunction.
Dismissed in part; reversed in part and remanded.
RYDER, A.C.J., and FRANK, J., concur.
