Rubin v. Sailfish Point Property Owners & Country Club Ass'n, Inc.
After a community association blocked a home sale, the buyer assigned his purchase agreement to approved residents and then sued to rescind the assignment; the trial court upheld the assignment and awarded the assignees roughly $269,000 in fees, costs, and interest under the purchase agreement's prevailing-party clause. The Fourth DCA affirmed the merits rulings and the denial of costs against the backup buyer, but reversed the fee award, holding the assignment contained no fee provision and the assignees stepped only into the buyer's shoes, not the sellers', so they could not invoke the purchase agreement's fee clause against their own assignor.
Key facts
- Original buyer entered into a purchase agreement to buy residential property in a community association; the association blocked the sale based on its approval rights.
- Buyer assigned his purchase agreement to approved residents and then sued to rescind the assignment; the trial court upheld the assignment and awarded the assignees approximately $269,000 in attorney's fees, costs, and interest under the purchase agreement's prevailing-party clause.
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Why it matters
The fee holding is a useful, transferable limitation on prevailing-party clauses in assigned contracts: assignees cannot turn the assignor's own contract fee provision against the assignor absent an assignment-level fee… — full analysis with a trial
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