Choquette v. Broward County Board of Adjustment

34 Fla. Supp. 117
CourtCircuit Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Broward County
DecidedApril 4, 1969
DocketNo. 68-386
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 34 Fla. Supp. 117 (Choquette v. Broward County Board of Adjustment) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Broward County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Choquette v. Broward County Board of Adjustment, 34 Fla. Supp. 117 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1969).

Opinion

STEPHEN R. BOOHER, Circuit Judge.

On January 22, 1968 petitioners filed a petition for a writ of certiorari “under provisions of §120.31, Florida Statutes, Rule 1.640 and chapter 59-1158, Laws of Florida”, seeking review of an order of the Broward County Board of Adjustment (“the board” hereafter) and naming the board as the sole respondent.

Pursuant to a stipulation by the parties the court on February 15, 1968 entered an order staying the proceeding, reciting that case no. 1925 was pending in the Fourth District Court of Appeal between the same parties and embracing the same subject matter.

[119]*119On September 24, 1968 the board filed two motions, one a motion to set aside the order staying the proceeding in which it was stated that the court of appeal had dismissed the petition in case no. 1925, the other a motion to dismiss, stating that Jess Yoho, to whom the variance complained of was granted by the board, was a necessary and essential party to this cause.

On October 29, 1968 the court entered an order setting aside the February order staying the proceeding, and granted the board’s motion to dismiss for failure to join an indispensable party, without prejudice to the right of the petitioners to file an amended petition joining Jess Yoho as a respondent within 20 days. On November 13, 1968 the petitioners filed an amended petition naming Yoho as an additional respondent. On November 22, 1968 Yoho filed a motion to dismiss, reciting as grounds the petitioners’ failure to comply with the requirements of Rule 1.640, that the provisions of §120.31 of the statutes did not apply, and the circumstance that the petitioners had not joined him, an indispensable party, until 328 days after the granting of the variance.

The respondent board was established under provisions of §8, chapter 30613, Laws of Florida 1955, entitled Senate Bill No. 413, an Act relating to Broward County. Subparagraph (3) of §8 contains the following —

“Any person or persons, jointly or severally, aggrieved by any decision of the board of adjustment, or any taxpayer of such county may, within thirty days after the filing of any decision in the office of the board of adjustment, but not thereafter, apply to the courts for relief,”

which is the only provision in the law dealing with appeals from the board’s decisions.

In Board of Public Instruction of Duval County v. Sack, 212 So. 2d 819, the First District Court of Appeal held that —

“If the final quasi-judicial administrative order is rendered by an administrative agency of last resort which is a county, municipal or other administrative agency, and not a state agency, then review of same may be sought by petition for common law certiorari to the appropriate circuit court pursuant to Subsection (3), Section 6, Article V, Constitution of the State of Florida.”

Rule 1.640 of the Rules of Civil Procedure directs that —

“(a) An application for a writ of certiorari to the circuit court shall be made by petition filed within sixty days [120]*120from the date of the proceeding, order, judgment or decree sought to be reviewed. It shall be accompanied by either the original record or a certified transcript of the record of the proceedings the petitioner seeks to have reviewed or so much thereof as is essential . . . and shall be accompanied by a supporting brief.” (Italics added.)

The respondent Yoho was not made a respondent in this proceeding until 328 days after the granting of the variance complained of by the petitioners and, tnerefore, it is not necessary for the court to rule as to whether the thirty day provision of §8 of chapter 30613, Laws of Florida 1955, or the sixty day provision of Rule 1.640 controls, the petitioners having failed to comply with either of them as to Yoho.

The first question which must be resolved is whether or not Yoho is a necessary and indispensable party to this cause. The court by its order of October 29, 1968, answered this question in the affirmative. In 58 Am. Jur., Zoning §253, page 1073, is found the following — “In an appeal by other property owners from the decision of a board of zoning appeals granting a variance to permit a nonconforming use of the premises, the applicant for the variation is a necessary and indispensable party.”

In Headley v. Lasseter, 147 So.2d 154 (1962), the court stated, in part, as follows —

The fact that the city’s position was upheld by the judgment on certiorari is not a sufficient answer to the contention that the city was an interested party without whose joinder an effectual judgment could not be made. This is so because the appeal seeks reversal of the circuit court judgment, which if granted would constitute a determination adverse to the city’s right in the matter without it having been a party, here or in the court below.
In a proceeding to review a decision or order of an administrative agency, the question of who may or must be joined as parties, is in the absence of statutory provision as to parties, governed by the rules applicable to parties in civil actions generally. 73 C.J.S. Public Administrative Bodies & Procedure §178, p. 523. Cf. Dade County News Dealers Supply Co. v. Florida R.R. & Public Utilities Commission. Fla., 1950, 48 So.2d 89. (Italics added.) * * *
Thus, when a proceeding is filed in court to review the decision of an administrative board which ruled on the propriety of an administrative decision by a city, the city or its official who was involved is a necessary if not indispensable party to such court proceeding. See Johnson v. Kirkland, 5 Cir., 1961, 290 F. 2d 440; Boyd & Usher Transport v. Southern Tank Lines, Inc., Ky. 1959, 320 S.W. 2d 120; Borough of Hasbrouk Heights v. Division of Tax Appeals, 48 N.J. Super. 328, 137 [121]*121A.2d 585; Plummer v. Johnson, 61 N.M. 423, 301 P.2d 529; 73 C.J.S. Public Administrative Bodies and Procedure §178; 42 Am Jur. Public Administrative Law Section 239.
Appellant Dade County urges reversal for the reason above stated. Appellant Marks Brothers and the appellee suggest we disregard the failure to join the city in the circuit court and other claimed errors which they classify as “technicalities”, and render a decision on the merits. This we cannot do for the reason that the ground on which we must reverse is that failure to join the city prevented a complete judgment from being rendered. * * *
For the reasons stated, the judgment appealed from is reversed, and the cause remanded with directions to the circuit court to deny certiorari and dismiss the petition.

Having disposed of this question, the court next considers the effect which petitioners’ failure to join an indispensable and necessary party to this cause within the time provided by law and the rules of civil procedure has upon their right to further prosecute their appeal.

The answer to this question was set forth forceably by our Supreme Court in Cornell v. Franklin, 40 Fla. 149, 23 So. 589 (1898) —

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Related

Rilling v. Dade County
35 Fla. Supp. 100 (Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
34 Fla. Supp. 117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/choquette-v-broward-county-board-of-adjustment-flacirct17bro-1969.