Green v. Green

254 So. 2d 802, 1971 Fla. App. LEXIS 5788
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 9, 1971
DocketNo. 71-49
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 254 So. 2d 802 (Green v. Green) 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
Green v. Green, 254 So. 2d 802, 1971 Fla. App. LEXIS 5788 (Fla. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinions

HENDRY, Judge.

Appellant-plaintiff Jessie Green seeks review of that portion of a post judgment order entered in the divorce action which denied her motion for judgment to assess damages on supersedeas or stay.

The issue presented by this appeal is: Where a final decree of divorce awards the wife a special equity in the property of the husband of one-half of his assets, but without regard to the value of such property, and the husband in appealing such decree obtains a stay of proceedings without bond, after the affirmance of such decree is the husband, in a summary post-judg[803]*803ment proceeding, liable in damages to the wife for a loss (or depreciation) in the market value of the wife’s one-half interest in his assets ? A related issue concerns the proper categorization, under the Florida Appellate Rules, of the final decree of divorce which awarded the wife a special equity. We resolve these issues by expressing the views that: (1) the husband is not liable in a summary post-judgment proceeding to the wife for depreciation in value of her one-half interest in his assets and, (2) the final decree of divorce awarding the wife a special equity was a “judgment other than for money,” within Rule 5.9, FAR, 32 F.S.A. The second issue will be discussed at the outset, followed by our examination of the primary issue.

On January 17, 1969, the court entered a final judgment in favor of the plaintiff-wife, appellant in this appeal, which granted her a divorce and awarded her, inter alia, special equities in all the assets of the husband. Certain securities were then being held in a joint curator’s account by the attorneys for the parties.

The husband, on January 27, 1969, filed a “motion for supersedeas or stay” of the provisions of the final judgment of divorce which required a division of the properties and which awarded the wife as a special equity, one-half of all assets of the husband. The motion looked toward the filing of an appeal in this court to review certain portions of the final judgment of divorce. The motion for supersedeas or stay alleged as grounds that more than one-half of his property was either in the joint custody of the attorneys for the husband and wife (in a curator’s account) or in the possession and control of the plaintiff-wife.

After a hearing on the motion for super-sedeas or stay, the trial court did grant the stay upon conditions. The stay order, in pertinent part, provided as follows:

« * * *
“2. * * * [Ujpon the filing of a notice of appeal * * *, the proceedings in this cause * * * are hereby stayed and particularly enforcement of the provisions of the final judgment entered in this cause on January 17, 1969, said stay to continue until the rendition of a final appellate decision, provided and conditioned upon the fact that the joint curator’s account, # 629-0206-08, in the names of * * * [attorneys for the parties], shall be retained intact and the defendant shall be permitted to trade said account and to withdraw only therefrom one-half of the dividends derived from the stock in said account. A further condition of this stay is the fact that the defendant, if he sees fit to trade the above account, shall not permit the same to be depreciated below the value of $200,000. If said account should be depreciated below $200,000 as a result of the defendant’s trading of the stocks in said account, then the defendant shall replenish said account, either with cash or with stocks equivalent thereto, so that the total value of said account shall not be less than the sum of $200,000. The stay granted by this order shall in no wise affect the division of jointly held securities and securities accounts.”

No supersedeas bond was ordered by the trial court.

The husband prosecuted an appeal to this court, Green v. Green, Fla.App.1969, 228 So.2d 112, which affirmed the final divorce decree. The Florida Supreme Court denied certiorari in March, 1970, and denied rehearing in May, 1970.

On December 8, 1969, the mandate of this court was filed. On December 11, 1969, the wife filed a petition for a protective order increasing the security and/or a supersedeas bond.

On the death of the husband his executor and administrator C.T.A., who are the present appellees, were substituted for the deceased defendant.

On November 4, 1970, the plaintiff filed the motion for judgment to assess damages [804]*804on supersedeas or stay, which alleged that on the date the supersedeas or stay became effective, February 19, 1969, the securities in the curatorship account had a net market value of almost $432,000, but that on May 11, 1970, the date of the Supreme Court’s denial of the husband’s petition for rehearing on his petition for certiorari, all appellate proceedings ended, and the value of the securities in the account had fallen to a net value of almost $249,000. The decrease was more than $183,000, and one-half of which, $91,500, was the damage to the plaintiff, for which she sought to recover from the executor and administrator. Later, motions of the appellees were filed, and the several motions were heard, ultimately resulting in the order herein appealed by the wife.

The appellant wife contends that the trial court erred in entering the order appealed, on the grounds that the intent of the conditions of the stay order was to avoid the expense of a supersedeas bond and to hold the husband’s interest in the curator’s account liable in the event of the depreciation which did occur. The appellant also argues that the terms “super-sedeas or stay” are synonymous terms as used in Part V of the Florida Appellate Rules, 32 F.S.A. and § 59.13, Fla.Stat., F.S.A. Appellant argues that Price v. Rome, Fla.App.1970, 237 So.2d 835, 836 controls the disposition of this appeal. On the other hand, the appellee urges that Johnson v. James H. Price & Co., Fla.App.1970, 235 So.2d 763 controls the disposition of the instant appeal.

Two fundamental principles should be noted. First, a party who desires to appeal is not obliged to seek a stay of the judgment pending appeal. Second, the whole theory of an undertaking is that the party in whose favor the judgment was rendered shall not suffer by the stay which was entered.

At early common law, different methods were employed to seek appellate review of judgments in common law actions and decrees in suits cognizable by equity. See generally, Omaha Hotel Company v. Kountze (1883), 107 U.S. 378, 2 S.Ct. 911, 27 L.Ed. 606; Crandall, Florida Common Law Practice § 508, p. 782 (1928) and Crandall, Florida Common Law Practice, 1940 Supplement, § 508.

The first issue to be determined in this appeal is whether the judgment reviewed in the earlier appeal was: (a) for the recovery of money not secured, under Rule 5.7, FAR, 32 F.S.A.; (b) for the recovery of money secured, Rule 5.8, or (c) a judgment other than for money, Rule 5.9. Florida East Coast Railway Company v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, Fla.App.1965, 178 So.2d 215, and cf. Omaha Hotel Company v. Kountz, 107 U.S. at pp. 388-389, 2 S.Ct. 911. We express the view, that the judgment reviewed under the earlier appeal was a judgment other than for money under Rule 5.9.

Next, we must resolve the primary issue on appeal, whether the husband is liable in a post-judgment summary proceeding for a decline in the market value of the property.

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Bluebook (online)
254 So. 2d 802, 1971 Fla. App. LEXIS 5788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-green-fladistctapp-1971.