District Court of Appeal of Florida

Denial of plaintiff-builder's motion for rehearing and for relief from the final judgment entered in favor of defendant, the provider of interior design services for a residence plaintiff was constructing, is reversed where the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion as, for purposes of excusable neglect, the trial judge was aware of plaintiff's counsel's scheduling error prior to the time of a hearing he failed to attend, nothing in the record suggested that defendant would have been prejudiced had the hearing been rescheduled, and plaintiff demonstrated a meritorious defense to the dismissal motion.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/15/2006
• Published 12/15/2006

Judges

• DAVIS, Judge.

Court

• District Court of Appeal of Florida

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Debra J. Sutton and Sara-Jean Palmer of Sutton Law Firm, Bartow, for Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Monterey Campbell, Mark N. Miller, and Kristie Hatcher-Bolin of GrayRobinson, Lakeland, for Appellees.