Marine Design Dynamics, Inc. v. All City Construction Services, LLC

Summary

The Florida Third District Court of Appeal affirmed a final judgment for All City Construction Services, LLC, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by excluding Marine Design Dynamics, Inc.’s late-disclosed expense sheet after applying the relevant prejudice analysis. The court also held that the FEMA payment constituted net profits under the parties’ joint venture agreement and that this determination was law of the case. A specially concurring judge argued that Florida’s recent case-management amendments may be incompatible with the Binger prejudice framework and should be reexamined.

Holdings

1. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by excluding Marine Design's expense sheet after individually considering the exhibit and determining that its late disclosure caused substantial prejudice to All City under the governing Binger factors.
2. Marine Design failed to demonstrate reversible or harmful error, and the trial court properly denied its motion for new trial.
3. Marine Design could not relitigate whether the FEMA payment constituted net profits subject to the 40 percent split because that issue had already been decided in the first appeal and was governed by the law of the case.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by excluding Marine Design's expense sheet for failure to comply with the pretrial order requiring exhibit-list disclosure.
2. Whether exclusion of the expense sheet constituted harmful error requiring a new trial.
3. Whether Marine Design's renewed contention that the FEMA payment was a termination-for-convenience fee rather than net profits was barred by the law-of-the-case doctrine.

Disposition

affirmed