Cassedy v. Alland Investments Corp.
Cassedy v. Alland Investments Corp.
Opinion of the Court
This case involves a one count complaint by Marshall R. Cassedy, Jr., seeking an accounting of funds related to his investment of $315,000 in a failed effort to purchase and develop real estate in Texas in 1999, the primary allegation being the appellees’ misappropriation, concealment, and squandering of monies on improper and extravagant items unrelated to the purpose of the venture. A decade of litigation followed. See Cassedy v. Alland Invs. Corp., 128 So.3d 976, 979 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014) (Cassedy II); Cassedy v. Alland Invs. Corp., 982 So.2d 719, 720 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008) (Cassedy I). After the second of two prior appeals (both of which Mr. Cassedy won), this case was remanded for an evidentiary hearing at which the “appellees had the burden to prove by competent, substantial evidence that their expenditures were proper and legitimate.” Cassedy II, 128 So.3d at 979.
On remand, the trial court — the fourth circuit court judge to participate in the adjudication of this dispute — reviewed the evidence previously submitted and concluded that $128,385.59 of the expenditures by the appellees were neither proper nor
The trial court also concluded that the appellees had proven that certain other expenses for travel, meals, and entertainment ($24,773.62); professional services ($65,548.04); and office-related supplies ($6,292.75), were proper and legitimate, a conclusion with which Mr. Cassedy disagrees. He argues that although some of these expenditures may have been proper, certain specified items in each of the three categories lack competent substantial evidence, such that the appellees failed to meet their burden of proof. We have reviewed the record and agree that certain items either lacked documentation or that no evidence existed to support their legitimacy. See Green v. Green, 16 So.3d 298, 301 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009) (reversing in equity a monetary award that “was unexplained and without example in current legal precedent”); Skillman v. Baker, 142 So.2d 113, 114 (Fla. 1st DCA 1962) (“[T]he court, having taken jurisdiction of the cause, should have proceeded to do full equity among the parties in keeping with the time-honored equitable maxim that equity delights to do justice and not by halves.... ”). We therefore find that $7,073.77 of travel and entertainment expenses, $3,746.46 of professional fees, and $6,292.75 of office expenses, were unproven. As such, on remand the trial court shall enter a total judgment of $145,498.57 and applicable interest in favor of Mr. Cassedy. Finding no merit in the issue raised on cross-appeal, we affirm.
REVERSED in part, AFFIRMED in part.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.