## Facts

- Florida Coast Bank of Pompano Beach, individually and as trustee, served as trustee of a trust whose income beneficiaries were William McWhorter Mayes and Robert Holder Mayes.
- The beneficiaries sued the trustee in the trial court for surcharge, removal, and an accounting concerning the trustee’s administration of trust property, including real property expenses.
- The trial court entered a final judgment against the trustee that, among other things, required the trustee to:
  - pay accumulated trust income to the beneficiaries,
  - provide quarterly accountings,
  - administer the trust under court-imposed guidelines, and
  - repay certain amounts and pay the beneficiaries’ attorney’s fees and costs.
- The trustee moved in the trial court to stay the final judgment pending appeal; the trial court denied a stay.
- After the denial, the trustee filed a notice of appeal and posted a supersedeas bond in the amount of the money ordered to be paid plus 15% interest, asserting that the bond automatically stayed the monetary portions of the judgment under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.310(b)(1).
- The beneficiaries sought to hold the trustee in contempt for failing to comply with the judgment’s payment obligations.
- The trial court found the trustee in civil contempt and ordered it to make the payments required by the final judgment.
- The trustee appealed the civil contempt order, arguing that (1) the posted bond automatically stayed the money provisions of the judgment, and (2) the contempt sanction was improper.

## Issues

1. Does posting a supersedeas bond under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.310(b)(1) automatically stay the monetary portions of a final judgment that also grants non-monetary relief?
2. Was the trial court’s civil contempt order improper where the trustee claimed it should not be compelled to pay during the appeal and challenged aspects of the contempt sanction (including ability-to-pay concerns)?

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed the civil contempt order.
- The court held that Rule 9.310(b)(1)’s automatic stay applies only when the judgment or order grants solely monetary relief; it does not apply to a single judgment that includes both monetary and non-monetary obligations.
- Because the final judgment required more than payment of money (including accountings and court-directed trust administration), the trustee was required to seek a discretionary stay under Rule 9.310(a); the posted bond did not, by itself, suspend the payment requirements.
- The court upheld the use of civil contempt to compel compliance with the unstayed final judgment and rejected the trustee’s challenges to the contempt order, concluding the record supported enforcement of the payment provisions.

## Legal Principles

- Under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.310(b)(1), an automatic stay upon posting a bond applies only to a judgment or order that is solely for the payment of money.
- When a judgment grants both monetary and non-monetary relief, Rule 9.310(b)(1) does not provide an automatic stay; the appellant must proceed under Rule 9.310(a), which leaves the stay decision to the trial court’s discretion.
- A trial court may use civil contempt to compel compliance with a final judgment that has not been stayed pending appeal, including orders directing payment.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed a civil contempt order against a trustee who refused to make court-ordered payments after the trial court denied a stay pending appeal, holding that posting a supersedeas bond does not automatically stay the monetary provisions of a judgment that also imposes non-monetary duties, so enforcement through contempt was permitted absent a discretionary stay.


Florida Coast Bank of Pompano Beach v. Mayes, 437 So. 2d 160 (1983)