Cornell v. JeromeCornell v. Jerome
- Reporters:
- , ,
- Before:
- Hall
The. appellant, Douglas Cornell, challenges the final judgment which finds him personally liable for worthless checks issued through the account of his corporation. We reverse.
Cornell was president of 80-20 Incorporated, d/b/a National Pool Builders, Inc. On June 24, 1988, under the direction of Cornell, National Pool Builders issued two postdated checks to the appellee, Bryan Jerome, an independent contractor. The checks wеre signed by the secretary of the corporation. Jerome presented the checks to Citizen’s Bank for payment on June 24 and was informed that the corporation’s accоunt was closed.
On August 23, 1988, Jerome filed a complaint against Natiоnal Pool Builders and Cornell, alleging that Cornell caused the checks to be issued with the knowledge that the checks were worthless. National Pool filed for bankruptcy on August 29, 1988.
Thereafter, Cоrnell answered the complaint and raised as a defense the fact that the corporation and not Cornell was thе maker of the checks and, therefore, he could not be held personally liable.
Following a nonjury trial, the trial court found that Cornell knew that the account would be closed on Junе 24, 1988, and that he allowed the checks to be issued in spite of thаt knowledge. The court then applied section 832.07(1)(b), Florida Statutes (1987), which provides that an intent to defraud can be presumеd where a check is drawn on a closed account. Having found that fraud existed through the application of the presumption in section 832.07(1)(b), the trial court found Tourismart of America v. Gonzalez, 498 So.2d 469 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986), to be applicable to the facts of this case.
In Tourismart, the Third District affirmed the trial сourt’s dismissal of Touris-mart’s claim against Gonzalez, an employеe of Gateway Travel & Tourism, Inc., under section 832.05, becausе that statute makes it a crime to issue a worthless check and does not contain a provision for civil recovery. Hоwever, the Third District held that the trial court improperly dismissed Touris-mаrt’s claims for conversion and fraud because Gonzalez сould be held individually liable for such tortious activity.
Cornell first argues, citing Tourismart, that the trial court erred in applying section 832.07(l)(b), because chapter 832 is a criminal statute which makes no provision for civil recovery. Cornell next argues that, since chapter 832 does not aрply, no presumption of fraud was created upon which the trial court could rely to find him personally liable. Cornell argues that he also cannot be found personally liable beсause there was no evidence that he committed fraud or conversion since he did not permit the issuance of the checks with the intent to obtain Jerome’s services as those sеrvices had already been performed.
We agree with Cornell’s arguments and find that the trial court erred in finding for Jerome as thеre is no basis upon which Cornell could be held liable for the wоrthless corporate checks. Accordingly, we need nоt reach Cornell’s argument with regard to damages.
We reversе and remand with directions to the trial court to strike the judgment finding liability on the part of Douglas Cornell and to enter a judgment finding no individual liability on the part of Douglas Cornell for checks issued by the corporation to National Pool Builders, Inc.
PARKER and PATTERSON, JJ„ concur.