Brown v. Wood

202 So. 2d 125
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 6, 1967
Docket6801
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 202 So. 2d 125 (Brown v. Wood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Wood, 202 So. 2d 125 (Fla. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

202 So.2d 125 (1967)

Daniel Cramer BROWN, a Minor, by His Father and Natural Guardian, W.D. Brown, and W.D. Brown, Individually, Appellants,
v.
Dorothy Young WOOD, As Executrix of the Estate of George O. Wood, Deceased, and Virgil R. Kelley, M.D., Appellees.

No. 6801.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

September 6, 1967.

*126 George N. Meros of Meros & Wilkinson, St. Petersburg, for appellants.

Baya M. Harrison, Jr., and John T. Allen, Jr., of Mann, Harrison, Mann & Rowe, St. Petersburg, for appellee Wood.

Joseph W. Bradham, Jr., of Ramseur, Bradham, Lyle & Skipper, St. Petersburg, for appellee Kelley.

LILES, Chief Judge.

The appellant-plaintiffs, W.D. Brown and his minor son, Daniel Brown, appeal from summary final judgments issued in favor of appellee-defendants, Dorothy Young Wood, Executrix of the Estate of Dr. George Wood, deceased, and Dr. Virgil R. Kelley.

Daniel Brown suffered from a congenital defect known as hypospadia. In June, 1961, Daniel Brown's parents took him to the defendants for diagnosis and consultation, whereupon the defendants advised that surgery would be necessary. On June 28, 1961, July 11, 1961, September 14, 1961, and September 24, 1961, the defendants performed operations on the minor child.

On May 14, 1963, the plaintiffs filed suit against Doctors Wood and Kelley. Their *127 complaint, which specifically listed only the operations of June 28, 1961, July 11, 1961 and September 14, 1961, contained three counts and was based in substance on negligence in performance of the operations and breach of an oral contract.

Several amended complaints and many motions were subsequently filed in this cause, but only those pertinent to our decision will be discussed here. A suggestion of death was filed by the defendant Dorothy Wood on January 20, 1964, suggesting the death of Dr. George O. Wood on December 13, 1963. On January 30, 1964, the plaintiffs filed a petition for the appointment of an administrator for the Estate of George O. Wood. Subsequently, Dorothy Young Wood filed a motion for substitution of party, which the court granted, allowing Dorothy Young Wood, as Executrix of the Estate of George O. Wood, to substitute herself as party defendant. Later an amended complaint was filed, which was similar to prior complaints except that it listed the operation of September 24, 1961, and added Counts 4 and 5. These counts alleged that the operation of September 24, 1961, was performed without obtaining the informed consent of the child's parents.

The defendants filed motions for summary judgments as to Counts 4 and 5 based upon the defense of the two year statute of limitations for assault and battery, § 95.11 (6), Fla.Stats., F.S.A. The trial court granted their motions and dismissed Counts 4 and 5. Defendant Dorothy Young Wood, on August 30, 1965, filed a motion for summary judgment, raising as a defense the plaintiffs' failure to file a claim in the estate of the deceased defendant, Dr. George O. Wood. The trial court, on September 20, 1965, granted said motion and dismissed the remainder of plaintiffs' complaint against defendant Wood. The plaintiffs then took this appeal from the two summary judgments which dismissed their entire complaint against defendant Wood and from the summary judgment which dismissed Counts 4 and 5 of their complaint against defendant Kelley.

First it must be determined whether this court has jurisdiction to entertain an appeal from the summary judgments entered in favor of defendants Wood and Kelley dismissing Counts 4 and 5 of plaintiffs' amended complaint.

Wood, in seeking to challenge the jurisdiction of this court, claims that Counts 4 and 5 of plaintiffs' amended complaint were based on a different theory than Counts 1, 2 and 3 and that they constituted a separate cause of action. Therefore, claims defendant Wood, their dismissal by summary judgment was a final appealable order and the plaintiffs' failure to file a notice of appeal within the required 60 days divests this court of jurisdiction.

A recent decision of this court, Morse v. Hendry Corporation, Fla.App. 1965, 177 So.2d 31, is directly on point. In Morse the trial court dismissed plaintiffs' Counts 1 and 2, which were based on the theories of third party beneficiary and strict liability, but refused to dismiss a third count based on negligence. The plaintiffs attempted to appeal the dismissal, but this court held that since defendant was ordered to answer the third count, the dismissal of Counts 1 and 2 was an interlocutory order at law, not final, and therefore not appealable. Cf. McLean v. Plant Fruit Company, Fla.App. 1964, 167 So.2d 332; Doby v. Griffin, Fla.App. 1962, 144 So.2d 873.

For reasons discussed infra, we find that Counts 4 and 5 of plaintiffs' amended complaint do not state a separate cause of action but merely another theory of recovery. Accordingly, under the authority of Morse, it is clear that the trial court's dismissal of plaintiffs' Counts 4 and 5 was an interlocutory order, and since it did not relate to venue or jurisdiciton, was not appealable. See Fla. Const. Art. V § 5(3), F.S.A.; Fla.App. R. 4.2(a), 32 F.S.A. Therefore, as to defendant-appellee Wood, *128 plaintiffs' appeal is timely and this court has jurisdiction.

Against defendant Kelley, plaintiffs still have standing Counts 1, 2 and 3. Thus it is clear that as to defendant-appellee Kelley, plaintiffs are attempting to appeal an interlocutory order and this court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the appeal from the summary judgment entered in favor of defendant Kelley.

Following the death of Dr. Wood, and prior to issuance of the notice to creditors, the defendant Wood, as mentioned supra, moved to substitute herself as a defendant in this case and the trial court granted said motion. Later the defendant moved to dismiss plaintiffs' complaint under § 733.16, Fla.Stats., F.S.A., because no claim was filed within the statutory six month period. The trial court granted this motion. The appellants, in their first point on appeal, question the correctness of the trial court's granting of this motion.

The case of Kornblum v. Heflin, Fla.App. 1966, 183 So.2d 843, involved a similar fact situation except that in Kornblum the executrix substituted herself as defendant after filing notice to creditors. In Kornblum this court was concerned with an executrix who substituted herself, within the six-month time limit, as a party defendant to a suit that was originally brought against her husband before his death. We held that the executrix by her substitution had voluntarily submitted herself to the trial court's jurisdiction, and formal filing and service of the claim against the estate was unnecessary. The distinction between Kornblum and the instant case, as to the time of substitution, is immaterial. Therefore, we hold that defendant Wood voluntarily submitted herself to the trial court's jurisdiction and thereby made formal filing and service of the claim by plaintiffs unnecessary.

The appellants, in their second point on appeal, ask whether the trial court erred in refusing to apply the doctrine of relation back to plaintiffs' Counts 4 and 5, thereby finding said counts to be barred by § 95.11 (6), Fla.Stats., F.S.A.

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Bluebook (online)
202 So. 2d 125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-wood-fladistctapp-1967.