Foliage Forest v. E.I. DuPont , 172 F.3d 1284 ( 1999 )

[PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
________________________ ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
AUGUST 8, 2000
THOMAS K. KAHN
No. 97-5696 CLERK
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 97-00059-CV-JAL
FOLIAGE FOREST, INC., a Florida Corporation
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY,
a Delaware Corporation d.b.a. Dupont,
and CRAWFORD & COMPANY, a Georgia Corporation,
Defendants-Appellees.
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________________________
No. 97-5697
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 97-00060-CV-JAL
COUNTRY JOE’S NURSERY, INC.,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY,
a Delaware Corporation d.b.a. Dupont,
and CRAWFORD & COMPANY, a Georgia Corporation,
Defendants-Appellees.
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________________________
No. 97-5698
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 97-00064-CV-JAL
CASTLETON GARDENS, INC., a Florida Corporation,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY,
a Delaware Corporation d.b.a. Dupont,
and CRAWFORD & COMPANY, a Georgia Corporation,
Defendants-Appellees.
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________________________
No. 97-5699
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 97-00064-CV-JAL
PALM BEACH GREENERY, INC., a
Florida Corporation,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY,
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a Delaware Corporation d.b.a. Dupont,
and CRAWFORD & COMPANY, a Georgia Corporation,
Defendants-Appellees.
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________________________
No. 97-5700
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 97-00065-CV-JAL
MORNINGSTAR NURSERY, INC., a
Florida Corporation,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY,
a Delaware Corporation d.b.a. Dupont,
and CRAWFORD & COMPANY, a Georgia Corporation,
Defendants-Appellees.
_________________________
Appeals from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
_________________________
(August 8, 2000)
Before BARKETT and RONEY, Circuit Judges.*
PER CURIAM:
*
Judge Joseph W. Hatchett resigned on May 14, 1999, and did not participate in this decision.
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Plaintiffs Foliage Forest, Country Joe’s Nursery, Castleton Gardens, Palm
Beach Greenery, and Morningstar Nursery, commercial nurseries whose plants
were allegedly damaged by a DuPont product called Benlate, appeal the district
court’s orders finding that their fraudulent inducement claims were barred by the
releases executed by plaintiffs in settlement agreements, and thereby dismissing
the claims under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Because the releases
executed by Foliage and Castleton presented a choice-of-law question similar to
that which had been certified to the Supreme Court of Florida by a panel of this
Court in Mazzoni Farms, Inc. v. E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co., 166 F.3d 1162(11th Cir. 1999), we consolidated these cases with Mazzoni Farms,1 and certified
the following two questions to the Supreme Court of Florida:
(1) Does a choice-of-law provision in a settlement agreement control the
disposition of a claim that the agreement was fraudulently procured, even if
there is no allegation that the choice-of-law provision itself was fraudulently
procured?
(2) If Florida law applies, does the release in these settlement agreements bar
plaintiffs’ fraudulent inducement claims?
The Supreme Court of Florida has now answered the first certified question
in the affirmative and the second certified question in the negative. See Mazzoni
1
Following the release of the Florida Supreme Court’s opinion, the cases were subsequently
unconsolidated. See Foliage Forest v. E.I. Dupont De Nemours, Nos. 97-5696-5700 & 97-5931-
5932 (11th Cir. July 19, 2000) (order severing Nos. 97-5931 and 97-5932 from the consolidated
appeal.)
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Farms, Inc., v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co., __ So.2d __, 25 Fla. L. Weekly
S446 (Fla. 2000).
In light of the Supreme Court of Florida’s opinion we find that the Foliage
and Castleton releases are subject to their respective Delaware choice-of-law
provisions. The parties to those releases are therefore bound by the Delaware
Supreme Court’s recent holding that a release in a settlement agreement does not
bar a nursery’s claim for fraud in the inducement of the release. See E.I. DuPont
De Nemours & Co. v. Florida Evergreen Foliage, 744 A.2d 457 (Del. 1999).
The releases executed by Morningstar, Palm Beach Greenery and Country
Joe, which do not contain a Delaware choice-of-law provision, are therefore
governed by Florida law and subject to the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling on the
second certified question.
Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s order dismissing the plaintiffs’
claims and remand this case for further proceedings.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
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