McClellan v. Wood

83 So. 295, 78 Fla. 407
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedNovember 10, 1919
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 83 So. 295 (McClellan v. Wood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McClellan v. Wood, 83 So. 295, 78 Fla. 407 (Fla. 1919).

Opinion

Whitfield, J.

— An opinion was filed and the writ of error herein was dismissed on the ground that the writ of error was not “sued out and taken within” the time allowed by the statute. Subsequently the court sua sponte withheld the mandate for further consideration of the matter.

In replevin proceedings a verdict for the plaintiff was rendered May 10, 1917. A motion for new trial was made May 14, 1917, in term time. A judgment for the plaintiff was rendered and dated May 22,1917. The motion for new trial was continued by consent to be acted on in vacation, and was denied January 7, 1918. A writ of error was taken February 12, 1918.

The transcript indicates that the order denying a new trial was entered in the minutes of the court as required by Chap'. 5403, Acts of 1905.

The statute provides that “writs of error shall lie only from final judgments, except” that a writ of error may be taken “upon the entry of an order granting a new trial at law, * * * without waiting for a final judgment in the cause.” Secs. 1691, 1695, Gen. Stats., 1906, Compiled Laws 1914. “All writs of error in judgments in civil actions shall be sued out and taken within six months from the date of said judgment” with exceptions not material ¡here. Secs. 1699, 1700, Gen. Stats., 1906, Compiled Laws, 1914. “Every motion for a new trial shall be made by filing the motion and the reasons therefor in writing in the court, or by placing the motion and the reasons therefor on the motion docket, within four days after the [409]*409verdict shall have been rendered, and during the same term; and such motions standing over from one term to another shall operate as a supersedeas only when so ordered by the court. And the entry .of such motion shall not prevent the entry of judgment on the verdict. Sec. 1608, Gen. Stats. 1906, Compiled Laws, 1914.

Motions for new trials' in civil cases shall be made within four days after the rendition of the verdict and during the same term, but the judge upon cause shown may within such four days and during the same term by order extend the time for the making and presentation of such motions, not to exceed fifteen days from the rendition of the verdict. In all cases of extension of the time for making such motions, a copy of the motion to be presented to the judge shall be served on the opposite party, or his attorney with three days’ notice of the time and place that thé same will be presented and heard.

It shall not be necessary to incorporate in any motion for a new trial any matter m pads previously excepted to, for the purpose of having the same reviewed by an appellate court.

The judge shall have the power to hear and determine any motion for new trial in vacation and any such adjudication thereon in vacation shall be entered in the minutes of the court and shall have the like force and effect as if made during term time. Secs. 1 and 2, Chap. 5403, Acts of 1905; Sec. 1343-a, Compiled Laws, 1914; Spellman v. Beeman, 71 Fla. 575, 70 South. Rep. 589.

Originally writs of error in civil actions were to “be sued out and taken within two years from the date of the judgment,” etc. Sec. 10, Act approved Feb’y 10, 1832, Sec. 4, page 844 McClellan’s Digest. The time was reduced to six months. Sec. 1271, Revised Statutes of 1892.

[410]*410Delays in disposing of motions for new trials apparently did not often raise questions of limitation when the time for taking writ of error was two years, though a writ of error was dismissed in Crippen v. Livingston, 12 Fla. 638, where the judgment “was rendered and recorded” December 21, 1866, and the writ of error was issued from the Supreme Court December 19, 1868, but not filed in the Circuit Court till January 2, 1869. The filing of the writ of error in the trial court was more than two years after the date of the judgment and more than two years after “the last day of the term” of the Court, which was December 22, 1866. If a motion for new trial was made in the case the law then required it to be made during the term, and if made it presumably was disposed of before the court adjourned for the term December 22, 1866.

In Eaton v. McCaskill, 53 Fla. 513, 43 South. Rep. 447, decided after the period of limitation was reduced to six months it ivas held that “a unfit of error on a judgment in a civil action not sued out and taken within six months from the date of the judgment, as provided by the statute, where the plaintiff in error does not come within the exceptions of the statute, confers no jurisdiction of the cause upon the appellate court, and the writ of error should’ be dismissed.” In that case the judgment was rendered May 2, 1906. A motion for new trial was denied May 5, 1906, and the writ of error was issued November 14, 1906, more than six months after the motion for new trial was denied.

In Simmons v. Hanne, 50 Fla. 267, 39 South. Rep. 77, a judgment on the pleadings was signed by the judge and dated August 11, 1904, and entered August 26, 1904. The writ of error was sued out and taken February 27, 1905, [411]*411more than six months after the date and of the entry of the judgment. The writ of, error was dismissed. As the judgment was on the pleadings,, there was no motion for a new trial. See also Bond v. State ex rel. Jarvis, 34 Fla. 45, 15 South. Rep. 591.

A trial of an action at law is not concluded where a motion for new trial is duly made therein, until the motion for new trial is finally disposed of. Greeley v. Percival, 21 Fla. 428, text 431; Rehfield v. Moore, 76 Fla. 378, 80 South. Rep. 52; McGee v. Ancrum, 33 Fla. 499, 15 South. Rep. 231. See also Aspen M. & S. Co. v. Billins 150 U. S. 31; C. G. W. Ry. v. Barham, U. S.; 39 Sup. Ct. 213; 3 C. J. 1051; 19 Fla. 752, 754.

As under the statutes a writ- of error lies only to final judgments in law actions, except in cases where a new trial is granted, and as under the statute a judgment may be entered upon the rendering of a verdict and a motion for new trial may be subsequently made, even within a limited time after the term of the court has ended, and as a judgment is not in all respects final until the motion for new trial is disposed of, and as in reducing the period within which a writ of error may “be sued out and taken” and extending the time within which new trials may be made and determined, without changing the express requirements that “writs of error shall lie only from final judgments,” and as the statute requires “adjudications” of motions for new trials to be entered in the minutes of the court, the lawmaking power must be held to have intended that the provision that wi’its of error shall be sued out and taken within six months “from the date of the judgment,” means from the date when the judgment becomes final. This view conserves the organic right to an appellate review of msi prius adjudications. Where mo[412]*412tions for new trial are appropriate and are duly made, the judgments may not become final until the motion is determined, abandoned or otherwise disposed of. The law contemplates that orders granting or denying new trials, whether made in term time or i'n vacation shall be entered in the minutes of the court. See Section 2, Chap. 5403, above quoted.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Souvorin v. Lerich
180 So. 2d 180 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1965)
Frank v. Pioneer Metals, Inc.
114 So. 2d 329 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1959)
Redwing Carriers, Inc. v. Carter
64 So. 2d 557 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1953)
Kent v. Marvin
59 So. 2d 791 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1952)
Winn & Lovett Grocery Co. v. Luke
24 So. 2d 310 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1945)
Miami Transit Company v. Dalton
23 So. 2d 572 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1945)
Shelby v. State
21 So. 2d 787 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1944)
Hollywood, Inc. v. Clark
15 So. 2d 175 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1943)
Cole v. Walker Fertilizer Company
1 So. 2d 864 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1941)
Sinclair Refining Co. v. Hunter
191 So. 38 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1939)
Garrett v. American Fruit Growers, Inc.
186 So. 269 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1938)
Shayne v. Pike
178 So. 903 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1938)
Lee v. State
174 So. 589 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1937)
Parradee v. Steed
173 So. 842 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1937)
Palmer v. Gulf Fertilizer Co.
172 So. 488 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1937)
Norwich Union Indemnity Co. v. Willis
168 So. 417 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1936)
Davis v. Bell Boy Gold Mining Co.
54 P.2d 563 (Montana Supreme Court, 1936)
Price v. Sanditen
1934 OK 632 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1934)
Hazen v. Smith
135 So. 813 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1931)
Hopkins v. Rollins
123 So. 5 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1929)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
83 So. 295, 78 Fla. 407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcclellan-v-wood-fla-1919.