Third DCA Grants Certiorari and Keeps a Boat Owner's Case Together

A boat manufacturer arranged for its client's boat to be sold through its dealer network, but the owner never signed over his title. The dealer sold the boat anyway, and the buyers took it. We filed a replevin action to recover it. On the buyers' motion, the trial court severed the replevin claim from the rest of the case and set it for a separate trial.

We petitioned the Third District Court of Appeal for a writ of certiorari, and the court granted it, quashing the severance order. The court wrote: "Because factual and legal issues underlying the severed count are inextricably intertwined with those of other counts, we grant the petition." It explained that "it is well-settled that it is a departure from the essential requirements of the law to sever claims that are inextricably interwoven based on the risk of inconsistent verdicts," and that "the gist of both theories is to similarly test [the owner's] right of possession."

Certiorari relief is rarely granted. It requires showing that a trial court order departs from the essential requirements of the law and causes harm that cannot be fixed on a later appeal. Splitting one dispute into two trials can mean trying the same facts twice and getting results that cannot be reconciled. The decision kept the case together and kept the focus on the central question: who owned the boat.

The trial court later granted summary judgment for the owner on replevin, ruling that title never passed to the buyers and that the vessel would remain in the owner's possession.