Florida Litigation Guide

Civil Conspiracy –

[1] Elements and Case Citations

(1) A conspiracy between two or more parties;

(2) To do an unlawful act or to do a lawful act by unlawful means;

(3) The execution of some overt act in pursuance of the conspiracy; and

(4) Plaintiff suffers damage as a result of the acts performed through the conspiracy.

The underlying wrongful act ordinarily must constitute an independent cause of action against at least one of the conspirators (see Kee v. National Reserve Life Ins. Co. 918 F. 2d 1538, 1541 (11th Cir. 1990) unless the plaintiff can show the conspirators possessed, by virtue of their association, some peculiar power of coercion that an individual would not otherwise possess. A conspiracy claim absent an underlying tort is sometimes called an economic boycott and requires malicious motive and coercion through numbers or economic influence. See Churruca v. Miami Jai-alai Inc., 353 So. 2d 547, 550 (Fla. 1977).

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Florida State Courts

Supreme Court: Churruca v. Miami Jai-alai, Inc., 353 So. 2d 547, 550 (Fla. 1977)

First District: Dozier & Gay Paint Co. v. Dilley, 518 So. 2d 946, 949 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)

Second District: Olson v. Johnson, 961 So.2d 356, 359 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007)

Third District:Charles v. Florida Foreclosure Placement Center, LLC, 988 So.2d 1157, 1159-60 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008).

Fourth District: Hoon v. Pate Constr. Co., 607 So. 2d 423, 430 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992), rev. denied, 618 So. 2d 210 (Fla. 1993)

Fifth District: Walters v. Blankenship, 931 So. 2d 137, 140 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006)

Florida Federal Courts

Eleventh Circuit:United Technologies Corp. v. Mazer, 556 F.3d 1260, 1271 (11th Cir. 2009).

Southern District: Johnson Law Group v. Elimadebt USA, LLC, 2010 WL 2035284, *7 (S.D. Fla. May 24, 2010).

Middle District: Servcor Intern., Inc. v. Bayer Materialscience, LLC, 2010 WL 1837731, *3 (M.D. Fla. April 29, 2010).

Northern District: Deforest v. Johnny Chisholm Global Events, LLC, 2010 WL 1792094, *11 (N.D. Fla. May 4, 2010).

[2] Defenses to Claim for Civil Conspiracy

(1) Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.110(d) (pleading affirmative defenses), and other standard defenses. See § 60.

(2) Statute of Limitations: § 95.11(3)(p), Fla. Stat. (four years); Young v. Ball, 835 So. 2d 385 (Fla. 2nd DCA 2003).

(3) Underlying wrongful act which would not be actionable against an individual person cannot form the basis for a conspiracy claim. See Kee v. National Reserve Life Ins. Co., 918 F.2d 1538, 1542 (11th Cir. 1990).

(4) Combinations of employees or management in connection with labor disputes cannot form the basis for a conspiracy claim. Churruca v. Miami Jai-alai, Inc., 353 So. 2d 547, 551 (Fla. 1977).

(5) Delayed discovery doctrine does not apply to claim for civil conspiracy. Young v. Ball, 2003 WL 187439, *1 (Fla. 2^nd DCA 2003).