Graham v. Smoak

157 So. 2d 844
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 1, 1963
DocketNo. 3831
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 157 So. 2d 844 (Graham v. Smoak) 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
Graham v. Smoak, 157 So. 2d 844 (Fla. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

ALLEN, Judge.

Appellant filed a claim in the probate court against the estate of Frank B. Hamlin and appeals an order denying his petition directing the administrator of the estate to pay his claim against the Hamlin estate.

On August 30, 1960, the appellee received letters of administration in the Hamlin estate and two days later published the first notice to creditors. The appellant filed his claim on February 17, 1961. On July 24, 1961, which was approximately three weeks after the expiration of the time for objections, the administrator filed .a motion to extend the time for filing objections to the claim. This motion was granted on October 24, 1961, allowing the .administrator a thirty day extension.

In the order of October 24, 1961, extending the time for filing objections to thirty days, the judge recites the following:

“ * * * the Court being advised by letter of Attorney of the Claimant, that there were no objections to the extension of time requested.”

There appears in the files a copy of a letter addressed to the county judge which states that the attorney who apparently was representing the claimant would unavoidably be unable to appear at the hearing and that there would not be any objection to the extension of time being granted. (The present attorneys for the appellant were not representing the claimant at that particular time.)

On September 18, 1962, almost a year after the order extending the time for filing objections, the administrator filed a petition requesting that the claim be declared invalid and for another extension of time to file formal objections. The petition stated in part:

“3. That on the 24th day of July, 1961, your Petitioner filed a petition for extension of time to said claim, and in which petition your Petitioner objected to said claim and setting out that said claim was not justiciable for that same had previously been submitted to the Circuit Court of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit of Florida on the 30th day of August, 1956 and a final judgment entered therein rendering same res judicata. Copy of said petition was served on claimant on the 24th day of July, 1961.
“4. Thereafter-contacted Petitioner requesting that Petitioner not set same for hearing until Mr. - could investigate claimant’s claim to determine whether he would represent claimant.
“5. That on the 24th day of October, 1961, this Court entered an Order extending the time for thirty (30) days.
“6. That in April, 1962, Mr. - notified claimant he would not represent claimant in this matter.
“7. Petitioner would show unto the Court that claimant has never complied with Section 733.16(1) (c), in that a copy of the claim was not delivered to the County Judge and no copy of same was mailed to the personal representative.
“8. Petitioner would show that the claim of claimant is barred in that claimant instituted a law suit against the decedent and your Petitioner as his Guardian on the 30th day of August, [846]*8461956, in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court for Florida, under Suit #1027, for the same subject matter, which resulted in a Final Judgment on the 2nd day of January, 1958, and which was satisfied, and accordingly said claim is res judicata.
“Accordingly and by Reason Whereof, your Petitioner prays as follows:
"1. That the claim of HARRY W. GRAHAM be declared invalid and be dismissed for the reasons aforesaid, or in the alternative
“2. That the objections set forth in the petition filed by Petitioner on the 24th day of July, 1961, be allowed as objection to said claim of HARRY W. GRAHAM, or the Court extend the time for the .refiling of the said petition to be styled formally as Objection to Claim of HARRY W. GRAHAM.”

On September 27, 1962, the court granted another extension of time for filing an objection to the claim of Harry W. Graham, which stated:

“IT IS, THEREFORE, Ordered and Adjudged that the time for filing objections to the claim of HARRY W. GRAHAM by the Administer (sic), c. t. a., D. FRANK SMOAK, JR, is extended for a period of seven (7) days from the date hereof.”

On this same day the administrator-appel-lee filed objections to the claim of Harry W. Graham. The objections filed were to the effect that the claimant was barred on the grounds of estoppel by res judicata and/or simply res judicata. Further reiterating, as was stated in a previous petition, that a claim for damages had been filed in the Circuit Court of the Twelfth Judicial Court of Florida for the recovery of damages based on the same grounds as the claim filed in the probate proceedings, and that as a result of the suit the claimant was awarded a recovery by final judgment as entered by the Circuit Court on the 2nd day of January, 1958.

We will pass over the granting of the first extension since the court stated that the attorney for the claimant advised there were no objections to the extension of time requested. At this time the statutory period for objecting to the claim had passed but the county judge, for good cause, had the power to grant the extension.

No objections were filed within the extended period expiring November 23, 1961. The administrator, on the 18th of September, 1962, again filed a petition to extend the time for filing objections, which the court granted, extending the time seven days. The administrator filed his objections to the claim the day the second order was entered.

The legal effect of the grounds for the extension set forth in the second petition were the same as those set out in the first petition filed over a year earlier.

We do not hold that the grounds enunciated in the first petition were sufficient cause for extending the time for filing objections but only that we will not overrule the county judge’s order where he has stated that the attorney for the claimant agreed to the extension. We do hold, however, that the second petition to extend the time approximately a year after the time granted by the county judge to file objections, contained the same grounds for extension of time to file objections as set forth in the first petition and was insufficient. The county judge was in error in granting the second petition since no legal grounds were given for the second extension.

We note the requests of the administrator in the second petition, 1) that the claim of Graham be declared invalid and 2) that the objections set forth in the first petition be allowed as the objections to the claim of Graham, which requests were impliedly denied by the county judge.

In the case of Ellard v. Godwin, Fla.1955, 77 So.2d 617, our Supreme Court held that under the statute providing that a [847]*847county judge, for good cause shown, may extend the time for filing an objection to any claim against an estate, the excuse that “for some reason” administratrix did not learn of the filing of a claim was not “good cause” for the administratrix’s failure to make timely objection to a claim and would not justify extension of time to permit the filing an objection.

The administratrix had filed a petition for leave to file objections to the claim, which claim was filed in due time against the estate. The circuit court, on appeal, affirmed the order of the county judge.

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Related

Delgado v. Estate of Garriga
870 So. 2d 912 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2004)
Pratt v. Gerber
330 So. 2d 552 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1976)
In Re Estate of Baker
327 So. 2d 205 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1976)
In Re Estate of Lindsay
207 So. 2d 736 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1968)
Smoak v. Graham
167 So. 2d 559 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
157 So. 2d 844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graham-v-smoak-fladistctapp-1963.