Stucky v. BMW of North America, LLC
After plaintiffs repeatedly failed to cure pleading deficiencies and missed a deadline to file a fourth amended complaint, the trial court sua sponte dismissed the case; plaintiffs moved to vacate under rule 1.540(b) and appealed nearly four months later. The Fourth District held it lacked jurisdiction to review the merits of the dismissal because a rule 1.540(b) motion does not toll the 30-day appeal period and cannot be recharacterized as a timely rule 1.530 rehearing motion, and it affirmed the denial of 1.540 relief for lack of excusable neglect.
Key facts
- Plaintiffs Stucky sued BMW of North America, LLC; the trial court sua sponte dismissed the case after plaintiffs repeatedly failed to cure pleading deficiencies and missed the deadline to file a fourth amended complaint.
- Plaintiffs filed a motion to vacate under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b) and appealed the dismissal nearly four months after the trial court's order.
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Why it matters
A crisp, citable reminder of the jurisdictional trap created by intermingling rules 1.530 and 1.540: counsel who lose a case on a sua sponte dismissal and respond only with a 1.540(b) motion will forfeit merits review… — full analysis with a trial
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