Handy v. Countertops To Go, LLC

327 So.3d 895

Chad HANDY, Appellant,

v.COUNTERTOPS TO GO, LLC d/b/a Volusia Granite and Marble, Appellee.

Case No. 5D21-137

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

Opinion filed September 17, 2021

Rehearing Denied October 21, 2021

Joseph M. Horrox, of Joe Horrox, P.A., Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Juliette Koves and Ruben Laboy, Jr., of de Beaubien, Simmons, Knight, Mantzaris & Neal, LLP, Orlando, for Appellee.

NARDELLA, J.

Chad Handy ("Handy") timely appeals the trial court's order dismissing his case against Countertops To Go, LLC, and ordering arbitration. We reverse the trial court's order dismissing, rather than staying, Handy's lawsuit pending arbitration. We otherwise affirm.

Handy filed a lawsuit in small claims court against Countertops to Go, LLC, over both the quality of granite slabs selected by Handy and the proposed method of installing the slabs in Handy's kitchen. According to Handy, in reliance upon an associate's promise to inspect the slabs and his belief that installation would meet "residential standards", he made a pre-payment to Countertops to Go, LLC, and signed a contract for installation. That contract contained a mandatory arbitration clause.

Countertops To Go, LLC, responded by filing a Motion for Summary Disposition under Florida Small Claims Rules 7.110(b) and 7.135 arguing that all counts should be dismissed because the dispute must be settled by arbitration. After a hearing, the trial court entered an order granting the Motion for Summary Disposition, ordering the parties to arbitrate, dismissing each count and expressly stating that it was rejecting "[Handy's] argument that the case must be stayed pending arbitration."

In rejecting Handy's argument for a stay pending arbitration, the trial court erred. Pursuant to section 682.03, Florida Statutes (2020), the imposition of a stay, not an order of dismissal, is the appropriate disposition when a matter is sent to arbitration. The statute states that "[i]f the court orders arbitration, the court on just terms shall stay any judicial proceeding that involves a claim subject to the arbitration." § 682.03(7), Fla. Stat. (2020). Our Court has previously recognized, under facts similar to the instant case, that the appropriate disposition is a stay of the proceedings and not a dismissal of the case. See Timber Pines Plaza, LLC v. Zabrzyski , 211 So. 3d 1147, 1150 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017) (reversing the trial court's order denying a motion to compel arbitration and remanding with instructions to send the matter to arbitration and to stay the litigation, citing to section 682.03(7) ); Fouche v. Pilot Catastrophe Servs., Inc., 217 So. 3d 225, 226 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017) (reversing the trial court's order which dismissed the case after finding the claim should be settled in arbitration and remanding with instructions to vacate the dismissal language and to impose a stay of the lawsuit pending arbitration).

Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's...