Gordon v. City of Belle Glade

132 So. 2d 449
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedAugust 23, 1961
Docket2286
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 132 So. 2d 449 (Gordon v. City of Belle Glade) 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
Gordon v. City of Belle Glade, 132 So. 2d 449 (Fla. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

132 So.2d 449 (1961)

Clifford A. GORDON, Appellant,
v.
CITY OF BELLE GLADE, Appellee.

No. 2286.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. Second District.

August 23, 1961.

*450 Garlon A. Davis, Ives & Davis, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

L. Martin Flanagan, Jones, Adams, Paine & Foster and Claude S. Jones, West Palm Beach, for appellees.

ALLEN, Justice.

This is an appeal by the plaintiff below from a summary judgment in favor of the defendant-appellee in an action for assault and battery, false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

The plaintiff alleged he was carelessly and negligently beaten on November 24, 1957, by two police officers of the City of Belle Glade while placing plaintiff under arrest without a warrant for an alleged act that was not committed in the presence of the police officers. The plaintiff was convicted in municipal court on December 13, 1957, of committing an assault on the two police officers and sentenced to pay a fine of $250 or, in the alternative, to serve 60 days in the city jail. The plaintiff appealed to the circuit court which reversed the conviction on November 21, 1958, on the ground that the plaintiff was arrested without lawful authority and that he was entitled to use such force as was necessary in resisting the arrest.

The instant action was filed against the city on May 29, 1959, and a notice of claim was sent to the city on February 25, 1959. The defendant moved to dismiss the complaint and also to strike on the ground that the claim was barred by the statute of limitations. These motions were denied and the defendant answered denying the allegations of the complaint and asserted the affirmative defenses that the action was barred by § 95.24, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., and that there was probable cause to arrest the plaintiff. The defendant then moved for summary judgment. The court originally granted defendant's motion for summary judgment as to all counts of the complaint except count 6, which alleged malicious prosecution. Subsequently, summary judgment was also granted in favor of the defendant on the authority of Middleton v. City of Fort Walton Beach, Fla.App. 1959, 113 So.2d 431. Final judgment was then entered for the defendant on all counts of the complaint.

*451 Section 95.24, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., provides:

"(1) No action shall be brought against any city or village for any negligent or wrongful injury or damage to person or property unless brought within twelve months from the time of the injury or damages."

The arrest and alleged assault and battery by the two city police officers took place on the 24th of November, 1957. This action against the city was filed May 29, 1959, so, unless other facts have intervened, the plaintiff's action against the city would have had to be instituted within twelve months from the time of the injury or damages.

In the case of Cristiani v. City of Sarasota, Fla. 1953, 65 So.2d 878, 879, the Supreme Court held that where a minor was injured as a result of negligence of city employees in the operation of a truck and an action was not instituted within the statutory period of § 95.24, F.S.A., that it was barred even though the injury to the eye of said minor was not discovered until eighteen months after the accident. The Court, in its opinion, said:

"Casual reading of the statute discloses that any action for damages against the city for injury or damage to person or property must be brought within 12 months. In this case it is pointed out that plaintiff was a minor six years of age at the time of his injury but that its full import, his blindness, did not materialize, or was not known, for 18 months or more, at which time the action was brought. It is contended that under such circumstances, the latter date should be construed as the date the action accrued as well as the date the statute of limitations begins to run.
* * * * * *
"* * * We think the phrase `injury or damage to person or property' means `injury to person' and `damage to property'. Either one or both might occur simultaneously but in either event the statute begins to run at the time of the accident or misfortune which caused the injury or damage. Any other interpretation placed on the statute would lay it open to endless confusion and uncertainty as to when claims covered by it are barred."

In a workmen's compensation case, Canada Dry Bottling Co. of Florida v. White, 153 Fla. 70, 13 So.2d 595, the Florida Supreme Court held that a right to compensation was barred since a claim was not filed within one year after the injury although another provision of the statute provided that claims could be filed at any time after the first seven days of disability.

We held in the case of United States Casualty Co. for Use and Benefit of Cheston v. Town of Palm Beach, Fla.App. 1960, 119 So.2d 800, 801, that the insurance carrier was precluded from bringing a suit against the Town of Palm Beach where its insured was injured on February 19, 1957, and no action was taken against the city within one year from the date of injury even though the compensation act authorized an insurance carrier to institute suit against a third party tort feasor (§ 440.39(4), Fla. Stat., F.S.A.) if the injured employee or his dependents failed to bring suit against the third party tort feasor within one year after the cause of action accrued. In this case we stated:

"It is clear that there is an apparent conflict between the two statutes. The plaintiff had no cause of action against the defendant until the claimant had received compensation benefits and had failed to commence an action against the defendant within twelve months from the time the cause of action accrued. * * *
"We accordingly hold that claimant's cause of action accrued at the time of the accident or misfortune which *452 caused his injury. Any other interpretation of section 95.24, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., would render confusing and uncertain the time at which claims covered by it are barred."

See also Annotation 41 A.L.R.2d 1044.

It was held in Old Plantation Corp. v. Maule Industries, Inc., Fla. 1953, 68 So.2d 180, that a cause of action for slander to realty by wrongful and malicious disparagement of title was not a continuing one from day to day until defendant's claim to such property was dissolved, but accrued and began to run when the wrongful act of filing notice of lien on said property was committed.

In the case of De Bouchel v. Koss Const. Co., 177 La. 841, 149 So. 496, 497, it was held that a cause of action for false imprisonment arose on the day on which plaintiff was imprisoned and released and an action not brought within one year thereafter was prescribed. The defendant was also sued on an act for malicious prosecution and the Court, in its opinion, stated:

"As respects the demand for damages for false imprisonment, the damage and the cause of action therefor arose on the same day, namely, June 5, 1931, which is the day on which plaintiff was both falsely imprisoned and then released from prison. This suit was not filed until July 5, 1932, exactly thirteen months after the damage was sustained. Therefore, under articles 3536 and 3537 of the Civil Code, providing that damages resulting from offenses and quasi offenses prescribe in one year after the damage is sustained, this demand is prescribed.

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132 So. 2d 449, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gordon-v-city-of-belle-glade-fladistctapp-1961.