CENTER STATE TRANSPORTATION INC v. MOTOR TREND ORLANDO SERVICE LLC (2021)

Center State Transportation, Inc., a sublessee trucking company, appeals a nonfinal temporary injunction prohibiting it from: (1) utilizing the leased property as a repair shop or performing maintenance on vehicles; (2) utilizing the leased property to sell, store, improperly dispose of or handle petroleum or other pollutants; and (3) using any portion of the property not within the “front unit parcel space” as stated in the sublease. The temporary injunction also required Center State “to immediately remediate any and all contamination or spillage of petroleum and/or other pollutants at its own cost.” We reverse the trial court's order to the extent that it requires Center State to immediately perform remediation measures, but we otherwise affirm.¹

Mandatory injunctions, which compel an affirmative act by the party enjoined, should rarely be granted before final hearing, or before the parties have a full opportunity to present their evidence. Miami Bridge Co. v. Miami Beach Ry. Co., 152 Fla. 458, 12 So. 2d 438, 443 (1943); see also Delta Gen. Corp. v. Priess, 389 So. 2d 1083, 1083 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980) (“The law is well settled that a mandatory injunction may not be granted prior to a final hearing on the merits, except in those rare cases where the right to it is clear and free from reasonable doubt.”). Here, the two-hour temporary injunction hearing took place thirteen days after the filing of the verified complaint. It is clear from the hearing transcript that neither party had the full opportunity to present their evidence on the remediation issue.²

Furthermore, the court's requirement that Center State both “immediately remediate any and all contamination or spillage of petroleum and/or other pollutants” is deficient in that it fails to “describe with reasonable detail the act or acts required to comply with the injunction.” See Castillo Grand Residences Condo. Ass'n v. Stern, 304 So. 3d 23, 27 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020). Indeed, it is unclear from the trial court's order whether Center State would be required to remediate contamination that may have existed prior to the commencement of its sublease, or contamination that may have been caused by others.

On remand, the trial court shall strike that portion of the temporary injunction that requires Center State to undertake the above described remediation measures.

AFFIRMED, in part; REVERSED, in part; and REMANDED with instructions.

FOOTNOTES

1.   Our affirmance of the prohibitory portions of the temporary injunction is without prejudice to Center State, if it can do so in good faith, to seek an increase in the required bond amount.

2.   Because it was not raised on appeal, we do not address the issue of whether Appellee has an adequate remedy at law for the alleged damage to the leased property caused by Center State.

EVANDER, C.J.,

EDWARDS and HARRIS, JJ., concur.