Hardee v. Gordon Thompson Chevrolet, Inc.

154 So. 2d 174, 1963 Fla. App. LEXIS 3285
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 11, 1963
DocketE-54
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 154 So. 2d 174 (Hardee v. Gordon Thompson Chevrolet, Inc.) 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
Hardee v. Gordon Thompson Chevrolet, Inc., 154 So. 2d 174, 1963 Fla. App. LEXIS 3285 (Fla. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

154 So.2d 174 (1963)

Willard Carlton HARDEE, Appellant,
v.
GORDON THOMPSON CHEVROLET, INC., a corporation, Appellee.

No. E-54.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. First District.

June 11, 1963.

Ralph E. Sistrunk and William T. Kaler, Jacksonville, for appellant.

Howell, Kirby, Montgomery & Sands, Jacksonville, for appellee.

WIGGINTON, Judge.

Plaintiff has appealed from a final judgment dismissing with prejudice his complaint on the ground that it fails to state a cause of action. There is no contention that the trial court erred in concluding that the complaint did not state a cause of action. The only point on appeal questions the authority of the trial court to order that the dismissal is with prejudice.

*175 After the complaint in this case was filed, appellee filed its motion to dismiss on the ground that the complaint failed to state a cause of action. This motion was granted by order which allowed plaintiff fifteen days within which to file an amended complaint if he was so advised. Upon plaintiff's failure to amend within the time allowed by the court, defendant filed a motion for final judgment of dismissal with prejudice. It was in pursuance of this motion that the judgment appealed was entered.

It is appellant's position that even though it was unable or unwilling to file an amended complaint sufficient to state a cause of action as permitted by the court, such inability or unwillingness should not prejudice his right to institute another suit at a later date on the same cause of action sought to be alleged in the complaint which the court found to be insufficient. Appellant contends that this is a right he possesses, and one of which the trial court has no authority to deprive him.

The question of whether a final judgment of dismissal consequent upon plaintiff's failure to amend an insufficient complaint as permitted by the court constitutes a dismissal with prejudice which precludes the institution of a subsequent suit on the same cause of action between the same parties was fully explored and decided by this court in the Hammac case.[1] We there pointed out that prior to the adoption in 1950 of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure the law of Florida on this subject was as pronounced by the Supreme Court in the Kautzmann case[2], which principle of law was subsequently followed by the Second District Court of Appeal in the Bricklayers case.[3] Although each of these decisions was rendered subsequent to the adoption of the new Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, neither case purported to refer to such rules nor did they attempt to place a construction thereon. Each decision turned on the status of the law as it had been in effect in Florida prior to the adoption of the rule with respect to involuntary dismissal of actions. In Kautzmann the prevailing rule was stated by the Supreme Court to be that if the judgment of dismissal is predicated upon failure of the complaint to allege certain essential facts, which facts could be supplied by an amendment, the judgment does not then constitute an adjudication that the plaintiff does not have a cause of action, but rather because certain essential facts are not alleged, plaintiff has failed to set forth his cause of action, and the merits of plaintiff's cause are not determined. The test was stated to be: does the insufficiency relate to the facts alleged or to the allegations of fact? If the insufficiency relates to some inherent defect in the case shown by the facts alleged, the judgment of dismissal was held to be an adjudication on the merits. If, however, the insufficiency relates to the failure of the complaint to allege necessary facts to state a cause of action, the judgment of dismissal was held not to be an adjudication of the merits, nor a bar to a subsequent suit on the same cause of action. In Kautzmann the principle was stated to be that a judgment of dismissal based on merely formal or technical defects will not preclude the filing of an amended complaint setting forth a good cause of action, or operate as a bar to a second suit on the same cause of action. Thus, when the plaintiff failed in the first suit simply by reason of an omission of a material allegation of fact, a second suit in which the complaint supplied the additional necessary allegations would be maintainable.

Our decision in Hammac turned on a construction of the rule of procedure relating *176 to the involuntary dismissal of actions then in effect, the same being Rule 1.35(b), 1954 Rules of Civil Procedure.[4] In Hammac we concluded and so held that a final judgment of dismissal consequent upon an order granting a motion to dismiss a complaint or counterclaim for failure to state a cause of action is a final adjudication on the merits, and will bar a subsequent suit on the same cause of action between the same parties unless it affirmatively appears from the order of dismissal that it is made without prejudice. Our conclusion was premised primarily upon that clause contained in the foregoing rule which provides "[A]ny dismissal not provided for in this rule, * * * shall operate as an adjudication upon the merits." A judgment dismissing a complaint for failure to state a cause of action is a dismissal not provided for in Rule 1.35(b) relating to involuntary dismissals of actions, but is a dismissal authorized and provided for by Rule 1.11(b) relating to defenses. Our construction of the above quoted provision of the rule is in harmony with the prior decision of the Supreme Court in Capers v. Lee, Fla. 1956, 91 So.2d 337, as well as with the decisions rendered by courts within the federal jurisdiction construing the identical provision contained in Rule 41(b), of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.[5] The construction placed upon the rule in question by this court in Hammac would require a holding that the judgment of dismissal considered on this appeal operates as an adjudication upon the merits and the dismissal of the action with prejudice was entirely proper. It has been considered by most students of the law that the new rule of procedure relating to the involuntary dismissal of actions adopted by the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Court of Florida marked a salutary step forward in the fair and orderly administration of justice. Its effect was to eliminate the serious doubts which theretofore existed as to whether a judgment dismissing a complaint for failure to state a cause of action was with prejudice and operated as an adjudication upon the merits of the cause. As stated by the Supreme Court in the Hinchee case[6] upon the merits of the cause. As stated by the Supreme Court in the Hinchee case in construing Rule 1.35(b):

"This rule must be considered as a part of the new scheme of pleading introduced by the 1954 Rules of Civil Procedure. * * * Since the rule created the policy determination it is not necessary to enter into an academic discussion of legal philosophy. We point out, however, that the policy for terminating litigation in one proceeding is the major force behind this and similar rules; and that adequate safeguards protect less sure-footed litigants under the provisions allowing liberal amendment, voluntary non-suits, transfers of actions and timely appeals."

Rule 1.35(b), 1954 Rules of Civil Procedure, was subsequently amended and revised by the Supreme Court of Florida, *177 which revision became effective on September 30, 1962.

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Bluebook (online)
154 So. 2d 174, 1963 Fla. App. LEXIS 3285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hardee-v-gordon-thompson-chevrolet-inc-fladistctapp-1963.