Morgan v. Amerada Hess Corp.

357 So. 2d 1040, 1978 Fla. App. LEXIS 15792
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 6, 1978
DocketNo. EE-193
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 357 So. 2d 1040 (Morgan v. Amerada Hess Corp.) 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
Morgan v. Amerada Hess Corp., 357 So. 2d 1040, 1978 Fla. App. LEXIS 15792 (Fla. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinions

McCORD, Chief Judge.

This appeal is from a summary final judgment based upon a finding by the trial court in a quiet title suit below that “the claim of the plaintiffs is barred by applicable statutes of limitation.” We reverse.

Appellants (plaintiffs below) are the four children of Ernest Leslie Norred (hereafter referred to as Norred) who died on August 8,1973. Norred was declared insane by the county judge in and for Escambia County, Florida, on February 23, 1941, at which time the oldest appellant was five years old and the youngest not yet born. Norred was committed to the Florida State Hospital where he remained until his death. His ■sanity was never judicially restored, and according to his brothers and sisters, he in fact never regained his competency. Norred’s wife divorced him in 1944, and in 1948 she moved with the appellants from Pensacola, Florida, to Houston, Texas.

Norred and his brothers and sisters inherited from their father certain real estate (the subject of this litigation) comprising approximately 60 acres located in Santa Rosa County, Florida. Some of the brothers and sisters conveyed their interest in the property to the others so that in 1963, the property was owned by four of the brothers and sisters, one of these being Norred, who as aforesaid had been adjudicated a mental incompetent and committed to the Florida State Hospital. Norred owned a %2 interest in the property.

Norred’s brothers and sisters decided to sell the real estate, and because of title questions, it was necessary to institute a quiet title suit (a previous suit to the case sub judice) and appoint a guardian for Norred. His brother Carl was appointed guardian of his property in proceedings in the County Court of Escambia County on December 7, 1962. Carl was duly qualified and received letters of guardianship and was thus a party to the quiet title suit both individually and as Norred’s guardian. Carl’s petition for appointment as guardian listed the persons most closely related to Norred as certain of his brothers and sisters but did not mention his four children, the appellants, who were all adults by this time. Appellants were thus not served with formal notice of the guardianship proceeding. Three of them had been notified of the proposed sale of the property by letter dated November 19, 1962, from the attorney employed by Carl to represent him in connection with his appointment as guardian. He advised the children that it was necessary to appoint a guardian of their father’s property and that the sale of the property at a favorable profit was under consideration by their father’s brothers and sisters, who together owned ^ of the property. The children were advised by the letter that a sale of their father’s %2 interest would be approved by the county judge; that his brother Carl would be appointed guardian; that any funds expended from the estate of Norred would be solely for Norred’s benefit and that Carl was an honest and straightforward person who would protect the property interest of Norred. The children were also advised to notify either the attorney or the county judge of any objections they had to the appointment of Carl as guardian and to advise the attorney of any comments they might have concerning the subject matter of the attorney’s letter. The attorney received no communication from them.

A petition for leave to sell the property of Norred was prepared and signed by Carl, and a proposed order of sale was also prepared. A suit to quiet title was consummated, and the property was conveyed by Carl in his own behalf and as guardian for Norred and by Norred’s other brothers and sisters. The petition signed by the guardian seeking the court’s approval of the sale was never filed and thus no court approval was obtained.

Upon Norred’s death, three of his children came to Pensacola for his funeral. The sale of the property was discussed with them after the funeral and Carl explained that Norred’s proceeds from the sale were needed to pay his funeral and burial expenses to which the children agreed. They contend, however, that they were not aware of the sale of their father’s interest in the [1043]*1043property until they came to Pensacola for his funeral. Later, on December 31, 1975, the children filed the complaint in this cause to quiet title contending that the conveyance by Carl, as guardian of their father’s interest in the property, was void and that title to his former interest is in them as his sole heirs.

§ 745.05, Florida Statutes (1963), which was in effect at the time of the sale of the property, states as follows:

“Sale. — When the guardian of the property deems it expedient, necessary, or for the best interest of the ward for part or all of the property to be sold, he may sell at public or private sale, but no title shall pass until the sale is authorized or confirmed by order of the county judge; .” (Emphasis supplied.)

It is under this statute that appellants contend no title passed to the grantees and that title remains in them as Norred’s sole heirs. Appellees contend and the trial court ruled that appellants’ suit is barred by certain statutes of limitations. The first of these is § 95.12, Florida Statutes, which provides as follows:

“No action to recover real property or its possession shall be maintained unless the person seeking recovery or his ancestor, predecessor, or grantor was seized or possessed of the property within 7 years before the commencement of the action.”

On its face, the foregoing statute would appear to bar appellants’ action to quiet title since nearly 16 years passed between the time the cause of action for recovery of the property accrued in the ward and the filing of this suit by the ward’s heirs (appellants). Another statute must be considered, however, and it is § 95.20(1), Florida Statutes (1973) [repealed by Ch. 74-382, Laws of Florida, but with a savings clause contained in § 95.022, Florida Statutes (1975), which would be applicable to this cause of action]. Section 95.20(1), Florida Statutes (1973), provides in pertinent part as follows:

“If a person entitled to commence any action for the recovery of real property, . be, at the time such title shall descend or accrue, either:
(a) • • •
(b) insane; or
(c) . . .
The time during which said disability shall continue shall not be deemed any portion of the time in this chapter limited for the commencement of such action, but such action may be commenced, . . . within the period of seven years after such disability shall cease, or after the death of the person entitled who shall die under such disability; but such action shall not be commenced, . . . after that period.”

Norred’s disability continued until his death, and this action was brought within seven years thereafter. Appellees contend, however, that § 95.20(1) should not be held to apply to an insane person for whom a guardian has been appointed. We disagree. Although we have not found specific authority on this point in Florida, the general rule in other jurisdictions seems to be that the appointment of a guardian for a mentally incompetent person does not start the running of the period of limitation, although there is an exception to this rule in some jurisdictions where the right of action is considered to be in the guardian rather than in the incompetent. See Annotation, 86 A.L.R.2d 965 (1962).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
357 So. 2d 1040, 1978 Fla. App. LEXIS 15792, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morgan-v-amerada-hess-corp-fladistctapp-1978.