Atlantic Coast Line Railroad v. Dees

56 Fla. 127
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 56 Fla. 127 (Atlantic Coast Line Railroad v. Dees) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad v. Dees, 56 Fla. 127 (Fla. 1908).

Opinion

Shackleford, C. J.

This is an action instituted by the defendants in error against the plaintiff in error, in the circuit court for Hernando county, seeking to recover damages for personal injuries received by Stella Dees, one of the defendants in error, alleged to have been occasioned by the negligence of the plaintiff in error. A trial was had before a jury, which resulted in a verdict in the sum of $2,500.00, in favor of the plaintiffs. The defendant seeks to have the judgment entered thereon reviewed and tested here by writ of error, returnable to the present term.

The amended declaration contains two counts, to which the defendant filed the plea of not guilty, upon which the plaintiffs joined issue. Before pleading to- the amended declaration, the defendant had interposed a demurrer thereto, which was overruled and which ruling forms the basis for the first assignment. It is, however, expressly abandoned here, and we do not set forth the declaration, as no point is made thereon.

The second assignment is that “the court erred in overruling and denying the defendant’s petition or motion for an order requiring the plaintiff, Stella Dees, to submit to a physical examination made on the 16th day of April, A. D. 1907.”

We find that the issues in the 'case were made up on the 9th of March, 1907, and, according to the. bill of exceptions, that at the spring term of such court, on the 16th day of April, 1907, the defendant filed a motion for an order requiring the plaintiff to submit to a physical examination, but, so far as is disclosed, no order was made thereon, and, in the absence of an order denying the sáme and an exception noted thereto, there is nothing upon which to predicate error, hence this assignment must fail. The bill of exceptions shows the following proceedings:

[131]*131“Now comes the defendant by its attorneys, R. A. Burford and G. C. Martin, and moves the court for an order requiring Mrs. Stella Dees, the plaintiff in the case, to submit to such physical examination of her person as shall be reasonably sufficient to determine her physical condition at the time of trial, and the nature and extent of the alleg-ed injuries she claims to have received, as alleged in the amended declaration. R. A. Burford & G. C. Martin, attorneys for the defendant.
And at the fall term; of said circuit court, to-wit: on November nth, 1907, said' motion was renewed and again presented, and thereupon, on the 19th day of November, 1907, during a term of said court, said motion came on to be heard, and the court thereupon made the following order, denying said motion. This cause coming on to' be heard on motion of ' defendant’s attorney on the preliminary call of the civil docket for an order for a physical examination of the plaintiff, and the same having been considered by the court, and the court being advised and no facts or circumstances are shown from which it is made to appear that it is necessary for such examination to be made, when it is considered and ordered that said motion be denied without prejudice to renew the same, if it is made to appear that the same is necessary or expedient in the trial of said cause, and the defendant excepts. In open court Brooksville, November 19th, 1907. W. S. Bullock, Judge. To which ruling of the court the defendant- then and there excepted.
At the spring term of the said court at which the said cause was tried, the said defendant, on the preliminary call of the civil docket, to-wit: on April 21st, 1908, .again renewed the said motion for an order requiring a physical examination of the plaintiff, in the words of said original motion. Thereupon the court again denied said motion in the words of the original order, of date No[132]*132vember 19th, 1907. To which ruling of the court the defendant then and there excepted.”

Upon these two rulings are based the third and fourth assignments which may conveniently be treated together. The right of the defendant, in an action brought to recover damages for personal injuries to insist upon a physical examination of the plaintiff in order to determine the nature, character and extent of such injuries and the power of the trial court to require such examination has been the subject of much controversy in the courts and the authorities are conflicting. See 4 Wigmore’s Evidence, section 2220, especially the numerous authorities collated in note 9 on page 3022, et seq., and the later cases given in note 9 of the same section in vol. 5, the supplementary volume, found on page 222. Also see Watson’s Damages for Personal Injuries, section 655. We have examined quite a number of authorities bearing upon the subject, but it is unnecessary for us to go into any extended discussion, for the reason that, unlike most of the other jurisdictions, we have a statute regulating the matter, section 3151 of the General Statutes of 1906, which is as follows:

“3151. Examination of injured party in personal damage cases.- — -In all actions brought in the courts of this state to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained, it shall be discretionary with the trial court, upon motion of the defendant, to require the injured party, if'living, either before or at the time of the trial of the cause, to submit to such physical examination of his or her person as shall be reasonably sufficient to determine physical condition at the time of trial and the nature and extent of the alleged injuries. The physical examination provided shall be made by a physician to be named by the court in the presence of one or more physicians or attendants of the [133]*133injured party, if the party so desires. The compensation of the examining physician shall be fixed by the court in each particular case, and shall be in the first instance paid by the party petitioning for such examination but shall be taxed up' as a part of the costs of the case subject to the final disposition of the same.”

This statute seems never to have been construed by this court, but we find that it was originally enacted in 1899, forming chapter 4719, and that in the title thereof it was referred to as “An Act to Require in the Discretion of the Trial Court,” &c. As is said in section 655 of Watson’s Damages for Personal Injuries: “The general rule is that the defendant has no absolute right to insist upon a physical examination of the plaintiff, the granting or refusal of a motion or application for an order of court requiring the plaintiff to submit to' such an examination, resting- in the sound discretion of the trial judge. From all of which it results that, as in other matters discretionary with trial tribunals, an appellate court will not interfere except in cases of manifest abuse of discretion.” This principle has often been recognized and applied by this court in regard to the exercise of judicial discretion by trial judges. See Wilson v. Johnson, 51 Fla. 370, 41 South. Rep. 395, and authorities there cited; Adams v. State, 55 Fla. 1, 46 South. Rep. 152; Stearns & Culver Lumber Co. v. Adams, 55 Fla. 394, 46 South. Rep. 156. If this principle is applicable, even in the absence of a statute, as the above cited authorities hold, there can be no doubt as to its applicability in the instant case, since the law-making power has especially lodged the granting of such an order within the liscretion of the trial court, and a clear abuse of such i'iscretion must be made to appear to an appellate court n order to warrant it in disturbing an order denying such application.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 Fla. 127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atlantic-coast-line-railroad-v-dees-fla-1908.