McWHIRTER, REEVES, McGOTHLIN, DAVIDSON, RIEF & BAKAS, P.A., Appellant,
v.
Murray WEISS, Appellee.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
*215 John W. Bakas, Jr., of McWhirter, Reeves, McGothlin, Davidson, Rief & Bakas, P.A., Tampa, for Appellant.
Andrew J. Nierenberg of Andrew J. Nierenberg, P.A., Miami, for Appellee.
PARKER, Chief Judge.
McWhirter, Reeves, McGothlin, Davidson, Rief & Bakas, P.A. (McWhirter, Reeves), plaintiff in the trial court, appeals the final summary judgment, the order granting defendant's motion to dismiss, and the order granting defendant's motion to strike, which collectively disposed of McWhirter, Reeves' action to recover compensation for legal services against Murray Weiss. We reverse this case; however, we do not comment upon the merits of McWhirter, Reeves' claim that Murray Weiss individually owes McWhirter, Reeves $127,000 in attorney fees, plus interest.
A recitation of the facts of this case is not necessary. It is clear from this record that the trial court reviewed pleadings filed in another case in Dade County Circuit Court to dismiss the complaint in this case based upon the doctrine of judicial estoppel. The trial court further compounded the problem by striking four counts in McWhirter, Reeves' amended complaint based upon the trial court's order granting the motion to dismiss. Both of these rulings were error, as was the summary judgment which was a product of the previous rulings.
A motion to dismiss, filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.140(b)(6), tests the legal sufficiency of a complaint to state a cause of action and is not intended to determine issues of ultimate fact. See Holland v. Anheuser Busch, Inc.,
In Pizzi, the supreme court held that while a defendant may have affirmative defenses which would absolve it of all liability either in summary judgment proceedings or at trial, such defenses are not properly raised in a motion to dismiss under rule 1.140(b)(6) because they would require the court to look beyond the complaint. See Pizzi,
Weiss never moved the Dade County pleadings into evidence; nor did the trial court properly take judicial notice of them. See §§ 90.202-.204, Fla. Stat. (1995); Livingston v. Spires,
Because the Dade County pleadings were not before the court on proper grounds, the trial court had no basis to determine the judicial estoppel issue. The trial court clearly exceeded its authority by looking beyond the complaint to grant Weiss's motion to dismiss for failure to state cause of action. See Holland,
The trial court also erred in granting Weiss's motion to strike certain allegations in McWhirter, Reeves' amended complaint. The Rules of Civil Procedure provide two rules for striking a party's pleadings. See Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.140(f), 1.150. Because the court did not identify the rule or rules utilized to grant the motion, we shall discuss the rules that likely were used to strike each of the allegations.
With regard to paragraph 7, it is obvious that Weiss was relying on Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.140(f). Under rule 1.140(f): "A party may move to strike ... redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter from any pleading at any time." Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.140(f). "A motion to strike matter as redundant, immaterial or scandalous should only be granted if the material is wholly irrelevant, can have no bearing on the equities and no influence on the decision." Pentecostal Holiness Church, Inc. v. Mauney,
With regard to paragraphs 8, 9, and 10 of the amended complaint, Weiss apparently was relying on rule 1.150, also known as the "sham pleadings rule," to strike these paragraphs. In a case very similar to this one, Sargent, Repka, Covert, Steen & Zimmet, P.A. v. HAMC Industries, Inc.,
Our supreme court has defined a sham pleading as one which "is palpably or inherently false, and from the plain or conceded facts in the case, must have been known to the party interposing it to be untrue." Rhea v. Hackney,117 Fla. 62 ,157 So. 190 , 193 (1934). In reviewing a motion to strike pleadings, the "striking of pleadings is not favored and all doubts are to be resolved in favor of the pleadings." Costa Bella Dev. Corp. v. Costa Dev. Corp.,445 So.2d 1090 , 1090 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) (citations omitted). See also Ivey v. Southern States Power Co.,128 Fla. 345 ,174 So. 834 (1937). A "[m]otion to strike a pleading admits the truth of all facts well pleaded." Ivey,174 So. at 836 (citations omitted). Finally, in Scarfone v. Silverman,408 So.2d 778 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982), this court concluded that when a party submits any evidence to support his allegations which directly contradicts the other party's position, the court cannot strike one party's pleadings simply because the opposing party says they are false.
In this case, the allegations in paragraphs 8, 9, and 10 of the amended complaint cannot be said to be "palpably or inherently false." Accordingly, the trial court erred in granting Weiss's motion to strike paragraphs 7, 8, 9, and 10 of McWhirter, Reeves' amended complaint.
Finally, the trial court erred in granting Weiss's motion for summary judgment. A trial court may consider matters extrinsic to the four corners of the complaint when ruling on a motion for summary judgment. See Pizzi,
However, the trial court, here, could not base its decision on judicial estoppel because all of the allegations potentially subject to judicial estoppel had been stricken by the court in its previous order. It was the absence of those allegations that led the trial court to conclude that there were no material issues of fact and that Weiss was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Accordingly, where the order granting Weiss's motion to *217 strike was entered in error, so too was the summary judgment.
Reversed and remanded.
FRANK and WHATLEY, JJ., concur.