## Facts

- Sellers granted Buyer an option to purchase real property under a written agreement later amended to require Buyer to set a closing date with at least seven days’ notice and to close no later than December 5, 1987.
- Buyer did not provide the required closing notice, and no closing occurred by the outside date.
- In February 1988, Sellers declared Buyer in default; Buyer responded by declaring Sellers in default.
- Sellers later contracted to sell the property to a third party, but that transaction failed after Buyer asserted an interest to the title company, which then refused to insure title against Buyer’s claim.
- Sellers sued Buyer in May 1988 for breach of contract, tortious interference, and slander of title, seeking damages and relief to clear title.
- In May 1989, Buyer filed counterclaims including specific performance of the real estate contract (and other claims for damages).
- Sellers sought summary judgment on the specific-performance counterclaim as untimely under a one-year limitations period for specific performance of contracts to convey real property.

## Issues

1. Whether a time-barred claim for specific performance of a real estate contract may be maintained when pleaded as a compulsory counterclaim.
2. Whether the rule permitting certain time-barred counterclaims in recoupment for money damages extends to affirmative equitable relief of specific performance.
3. Whether applying that extension would undermine the statutory limitations period and policies favoring marketable real property titles.

## Decision

- The Florida Supreme Court answered the certified question in the negative.
- The court held that a claim for specific performance is barred by the one-year statute of limitations even if asserted as a compulsory counterclaim.
- The court quashed the district court decision that allowed the counterclaim to proceed and approved the trial court’s summary judgment for Sellers on the specific-performance counterclaim.

## Legal Principles

- Actions for specific performance of a contract to convey real property must be brought within the one-year limitations period set by § 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes (1985).
- The doctrine allowing a time-barred counterclaim in recoupment applies to defensive offset of money damages arising from the same transaction and does not authorize affirmative relief.
- Specific performance is affirmative equitable relief, not a defensive recoupment, and cannot be used to circumvent an expired limitations period.
- “Equity follows the law”: equitable remedies must respect legislative time limits, particularly where stale claims would cloud title and impair marketability of land.

## Conclusion

The court held that an untimely specific-performance claim for conveyance of real property cannot be revived by pleading it as a compulsory counterclaim; the one-year statutory bar controls, and recoupment principles applicable to defensive money offsets do not extend to affirmative equitable relief.


Rybovich Boat Works, Inc. v. Atkins, 585 So. 2d 270 (Fla. 1991)