Aerojet-General Corp. v. Askew

355 F. Supp. 928, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14605
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedMarch 8, 1973
DocketCiv. A. No. 1831
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 355 F. Supp. 928 (Aerojet-General Corp. v. Askew) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aerojet-General Corp. v. Askew, 355 F. Supp. 928, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14605 (N.D. Fla. 1973).

Opinion

[929]*929ORDER GRANTING PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

MIDDLEBROOKS, District Judge.

The above cause came on for emergency hearing pursuant to oral notice before the Court on October 31, 1972,1 upon motion of the plaintiff AerojetGeneral Corporation (hereinafter referred to as “Aerojet”) for temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction.2 All parties hereto appeared through and were represented by counsel at the hearing. The Court has heard and considered the evidence and has judged the demeanor of the witnesses who have testified and now makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Rule 52(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

FINDINGS OF FACT

[1] At the time of the filing of Aerojet’s motion for temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction, this cause was pending before the Court upon various motions of the defendants directed to Aerojet’s amended complaint for declaratory decree and injunctive relief.3 Aerojet claims by this action that its deed to certain lands (hereinafter referred to as the “subject lands”) described in the amended complaint is not subject to collateral attack or other acts by defendants herein claimed to be in derogation of Aerojet’s title.

On June 8, 1972, prior to delivery of any deed to Aerojet, Metropolitan Dade County filed a petition for issuance of writ of mandamus in the Supreme Court of Florida. Aerojet acquired fee simple title to the subject lands by deed dated June 20, 1972, from a commissioner appointed by this Court (hereinafter referred to as Commissioner’s Deed”) as a result of this Court’s specific performance judgment in Tallahassee Civil Action No. 1534, Aerojet-General Corp. v. Kirk et al., 318 F.Supp. 55 (N.D.Fla.1970) and as affirmed and mandated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sub nom., in Aerojet-General Corp. v. Askew et al., 453 F.2d 819 (5th Cir. 1971), cert. den. 409 U.S. 892, 93 S.Ct. 110, 34 L.Ed.2d 149 (1972). Numerous alternative grounds for relief are alleged in Aerojet’s complaints herein; but the basic claim is for protection of Aerojet’s title to the lands.

[2] Subsequent to the filing of Aerojet’s amended complaint herein and to the issuance and delivery to and recording by Aerojet of the Commissioner’s Deed to the subject lands, viz., October 11, 1972, the Supreme Court of Florida filed its opinion and decision in State ex rel. Dade County v. Askew et al., 267 So.2d 827 (Fla.1972), wherein that Court issued a peremptory writ of mandamus to the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund of the State of Florida (hereinafter referred to as “Trustees”), ordering them to offer a substantial portion of the subject lands to Dade County for purchase purportedly in accordance with the provisions of Section 253.111, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. Dade County had moved to amend the alternative writ of mandamus (thus directing it to Aerojet). In the meantime, the Trustees had filed a “third party complaint” against Aerojet in that action. The Florida Supreme Court rejected these efforts to bring Aerojet into those mandamus proceedings. Accordingly, Aerojet was not a party therein and was adjudicated by the Florida [930]*930Supreme Court not to be a proper party to the mandamus action. Nonetheless, that Court purported to construe the lease-option agreement made and entered into by Aerojet and the Trustees and the Florida Board of Education; purported to make Aerojet’s prior exercise of its option to purchase thereunder subject to the provisions of Section 253.111, Florida Statutes; and purported to require compliance with the statute’s provisions before the closing of the transaction.4

[3] Without any prior notice to Aerojet, the defendant Dade County Attorney, prior to October 31, 1972, had instructed one of his assistants to prepare for submission to the defendants Board of County Commissioners of Metropolitan Dade County, Florida (hereinafter referred to as Dade County Commission”) a resolution offering to purchase the subject lands from the Trustees for the same contract purchase price paid for the subject lands by Aerojet to the Trustees and Board of Education of the State of Florida. The defendant Dade County Attorney testified on deposition taken on oral examination in this cause on the afternoon of October 30, 1972, that while said resolution had been completed, same was not agendaed for presentation to or consideration by the Dade County Commission at the scheduled October 31, 1972 meeting of the Dade County Commission, and that the only way it could be agendaed and considered by the Dade County Commission at that meeting would be by a two-thirds affirmative vote of the Commission in favor of placing it on the agenda. He testified he did not know whether or not there were any plans to have said resolution agendaed for consideration at that meeting.

[4] Nonetheless, on the evening of October 30, 1972, an assistant to the defendant Dade County Attorney (the same assistant who appeared at said deposition of the defendant Dade County Attorney) and the County Manager of the defendant Dade County, went to Tallahassee, Florida, taking with them a copy of said resolution and a check issued on that date by the said County Manager, drawn on Dade County funds, for $1,246,308.88, payable to the Trustees. These representatives of Dade County travelled to Tallahassee, Florida, to advise the Trustees at a meeting of that body in Tallahassee, Florida, also scheduled for October 31, 1972, of the adoption of the aforesaid resolution by the Dade County Commission at the Commission meeting of October 31, 1972. Having knowledge that the resolution would be considered and likely passed by the Dade County Commission, these representatives were thus in position purportedly to purchase the aforesaid lands from the Trustees for said amount of $1,246,308.88 and to deliver to the Trustees said check in exchange for a deed to the subject lands from the Trustees in the event the Trustees agreed to accept said offer.

[5] At the outset of the scheduled meeting of the Dade County Commission on October 31, 1972, a motion was made and adopted to agenda the aforesaid resolution and it was then passed and adopted by the Dade County Commission. Telephonic advice of its.adoption was thereupon immediately given by the defendant, Dade County Attorney, to his assistant in Tallahassee, Florida, which assistant then conveyed the fact of adoption by the Dade County Commission of said resolution to the Trustees, through the defendant the Attorney General of the State of Florida. Thereupon, pursuant to motion of the defendant Attorney General the Trustees passed and adopted a resolution accepting the offer to purchase the subject lands of Dade County as contained in the resolution of the Dade County Commission adopted only moments before. [931]*931A deed to all of the subject lands 5

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Related

Aerojet-General Corp. v. Askew
366 F. Supp. 901 (N.D. Florida, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
355 F. Supp. 928, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14605, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aerojet-general-corp-v-askew-flnd-1973.