02-0226 APRIL V. KULHANJIAN

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State: Florida

Court: Florida Third District Court

Docket No: 02-0226 APRIL V. KULHANJIAN

Case Date: 11/26/2003

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IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA THIRD DISTRICT JULY TERM, A.D. 2003

APRIL REALTY LIMITED, etc., et al., Appellants, vs. ARA KULHANJIAN, et al., Appellees.

** ** ** ** ** ** CASE NO. 3D02-226 97-25108

LOWER TRIBUNAL NO.

Opinion filed November 26, 2003. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Eleanor Schockett, Judge. Bruce D. Friedlander; and Phillip D. Parrish, for appellants. David K. Markarian; and J. James Donnellan, III; and Jay D. Schwartz, for appellees. Before COPE, and RAMIREZ, JJ., and NESBITT, Senior Judge. RAMIREZ, J. The plaintiff, April Realty Limited, appeals from an order granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants in an action for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, constructive trust, and

negligence per se.

We affirm because the trial court was correct

in finding that April Realty failed to establish its claim against the defendants. Ara Kulhanjian and Tom Gebing were interested in putting together a deal to acquire and develop a piece of property. They were seeking a third party investor to finance the deal and met with Marvin Braun, a friend of Kulhanjian. for using a joint venture to obtain Braun made suggestions property and asked

the

Kulhanjian to put together a proposal. Kulhanjian prepared a handwritten draft of a joint venture proposal. He was a newly licensed real estate agent and inexperienced. Neither he nor Gebing had ever been involved in a joint venture property development. As a

result, prior to sharing the proposal with Gebing or Braun, Kulhanjian contacted Robert Sherry, the principal of April Realty Limited, and asked him to review and critique the draft of the proposal. This hand-written draft proposal indicated that the property had been demucked and filled. and Gebing intended to It also indicated that Kulhanjian and develop the property as

acquire

principals in a joint venture (Sherry later referred to Kulhanjian and Gebing as "wannabe principals"). Sherry told Kulhanjian that

an investor would need to have his head examined if he agreed to go along with such a proposal. Some time later, Kulhanjian and Gebing brought Sherry to see the property. 2 Sherry told them that he was

interested in purchasing the property, but not as part of a joint venture. Sherry purchased the property and later learned that it April Realty Limited sued

had not been demucked and filled. Kulhanjian, Gebing, and others. fraud, negligent

The complaint asserted claims for constructive trust, and

misrepresentation,

negligence per se.

The trial court entered two orders granting

summary judgment in favor of the defendants, which we affirm. Simply stated, the evidence is insufficient to support April Realty's claims. In order to succeed on a claim of fraud, a

plaintiff must establish that the defendant "made a deliberate and knowing misrepresentation which was designed to cause detrimental reliance." Ocean Bank of Miami v. Inv-Uni Inv. Corp., 599 So. 2d Here, there is no evidence showing

694, 697 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992).

that Kulhanjian intended for Sherry to rely upon the information contained in the proposal draft, much less that the

misrepresentation was knowing and deliberate.

Sherry himself

admits that the only reason Kulhanjian gave him the proposal was so that Sherry could offer him advice. The lack of evidence showing that Kulhanjian intended for Sherry to rely on the proposal draft is also fatal to the claim for negligent misrepresentation. The Supreme Court of Florida has

adopted

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