A customer can’t turn a breach-of-contract case into a tort claim to reach punitive damages, the Third District Court of Appeal reaffirmed December 31, throwing out a punitive award against a Boca Raton aircraft-maintenance company.
Fifteen Group Capital hired Boca Aircraft Maintenance to service a Dassault Falcon 50. After the work, a flap-symmetry problem surfaced on a flight from Oakland to Los Angeles. Fifteen won a judgment that included leave to seek, and an award of, punitive damages on tort theories.
The panel reversed. Under Florida’s independent tort rule, a plaintiff can recover in tort only for a wrong that is separate and distinct from the breach of the contract itself. Fifteen’s damages flowed from Boca Aircraft’s alleged failure to perform the maintenance contract, not from any independent fraudulent misrepresentation, so tort and punitive damages were unavailable. The court vacated the punitive award and sent the case back to sort out whether any damages awarded on the tort claims should be recharacterized as contract damages.
**Why it matters:** the decision is a clean restatement that even an egregious breach of contract stays in contract. Plaintiffs need a genuinely independent tort, not a repackaged breach, to open the door to punitive damages.
*Case: Boca Aircraft Maintenance, LLC v. Fifteen Group Capital, LLC, No. 3D24-0670 (Fla. 3d DCA Dec. 31, 2025). Opinion by Judge Lobree.*