Sexton v. Panning Lumber Company

260 So. 2d 898
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 21, 1972
Docket70-415
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 260 So. 2d 898 (Sexton v. Panning Lumber Company) 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
Sexton v. Panning Lumber Company, 260 So. 2d 898 (Fla. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

260 So.2d 898 (1972)

Clifford H. SEXTON, Appellant,
v.
PANNING LUMBER COMPANY, a Florida Corporation, and the Atlantic Chemicals, Inc., a Florida Corporation, Appellees.

No. 70-415.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

January 21, 1972.
Rehearings Denied May 4, 1972.

William Whitaker, and Karl O. Koepke, of Whitaker & Koepke & Associates, Orlando, for appellant.

*899 Russell Troutman, of Law Offices of Russell Troutman, Winter Park, for appellee Panning Lumber Co.

B.C. Pyle, of Whittaker, Pyle & Stump, Orlando, for appellee Atlantic Chemicals.

WALDEN, Judge.

This is an appeal by plaintiff from an order granting the defendants a new trial in a negligence action.

Plaintiff, Clifford H. Sexton, sued the defendants, Panning Lumber Company and The Atlantic Chemicals, Inc., Florida corporations. The suit was based upon a claim of personal injuries which were suffered as a consequence of the improper chemical treatment of certain lumber being used by plaintiff. The case was tried to a jury and judgment was entered in favor of plaintiff. Forasmuch as the record shows, there was no error or complaint made as to the way the actual trial was conducted, the liability, the sufficiency of the evidence, or as to the amount of damages. The appellate problem centers upon the identity or name of the defendant, Panning Lumber Company, and the trial court decisions concerning it.

The complaint named and process was served upon defendant, "Panning Lumber Company." As events later disclosed, this defendant should have been denominated as "Panning Lumber and Supply Company." In the six years preceding trial this defendant so named and served never objected to the omission of the words, "and supply", in its corporate name and for reasons best known to it never directed attention by pleading or otherwise to the fact that it was misnamed or that another corporation was involved in its stead.

On the day of trial plaintiff moved the court to permit the amendment of this defendant's name so as to reflect "Panning Lumber and Supply Company." This motion was denied, whereupon plaintiff filed an interlocutory appeal which was later dismissed without a ruling or opinion on the merits. The trial was not stayed pending the interlocutory appeal and the outcome in favor of plaintiff resulted.

Two post-judgment trial court orders reflect the problem. On February 23, 1970, the court entered an order which quite correctly amended the pleadings and process to accurately name this particular defendant. We approve that decision and reasoning, as follows:

"The manifest weight of the evidence is that Panning Lumber and Supply Company was the corporate entity the Plaintiff intended to sue for the alleged tort set forth in the complaints as amended. The service of process was made upon the President of Panning Lumber and Supply Company at its office at 5018 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, Florida. The President of Panning Lumber and Supply Company was also the President of Panning Lumber Company at the time of the service of process. Further, the evidence reveals that Panning Lumber and Supply Company owned 90 per cent of the stock in Panning Lumber Company. From the evidence the President knew that the corporation intended to be sued by Plaintiff was Panning Lumber and Supply Company. This is so, because all business dealings of Plaintiff's employer were with Panning Lumber and Supply Company at its store in Orange County, Florida, rather than with Panning Lumber Company whose sole place of operation was in Kissimmee, Osceola County, Florida. The lumber, the subject matter of this suit, was processed and sold to Nadar Construction Company by Panning Lumber and Supply Company. The Plaintiff himself never dealt with Panning Lumber Company but dealt regularly with Panning Lumber and Supply Company during September, 1963. Furthermore, the President of Panning Lumber and Supply Company was made aware of the occurence from which this suit arose within two days after its happening. It further appears from the evidence that Panning Lumber and Supply *900 Company engaged the expert witnesses who ran chemical tests on the wood, the subject matter of this suit. It further appears from the record that on discovery, Panning Lumber Company produced the records of Panning Lumber and Supply Company.
"It appears to the Court that, considering all of the foregoing facts, the designation of `Panning Lumber Company' rather than `Panning Lumber and Supply Company' was a misnomer on the part of Plaintiff in naming the corporate defendant he intended to sue. See F.F. L'Engle v. Florida Central & Western Ry. Co., 21 Fla. 353; Procter v. Wells Bros. Co. [262 Ill. 77], 104 N.E. 186 (Ill.); Freeman on Judgments, 5 Ed., par. 415; 39 Am.Jur. 982; 67 Corpus Juris Secundum [Parties § 148, p.] 1150.
"The Court holds, as a matter of law, that under the facts and circumstances set forth above, Panning Lumber and Supply Company had a duty to appear by its correct name. Our Supreme Court in Stewart v. Preston [80 Fla. 473, 479], 86 So. 348 (Fla.), said:
If a person is sued and process is served upon him by a wrong name, he is not thereby deprived of his right to appear and defend the action; neither is he required to appear by a name not his own; but it is his right and his duty (emphasis supplied) to appear by his correct name. The object of the process of the Court is to produce the person, not the name by which he may be sued, in court. Under the old English practice, the defendant was required to visibly appear in court, and our method of appearance is only a substitute for the ancient practice.
"Under the common law practice, if there was a mistake of identity, upon the visible appearance of the wrong person summoned, the Plaintiff would have to initiate new proceedings entirely. In this modern day of commerce when we have `chain stores' or similar types of operations, using the same generic name, with each store being a separate corporation, it is the duty of such a corporation to reveal by its answer whether there is a misnomer or mistake in identity, if such be the case. Particularly is this true because of the `invisible entity' of the corporate structure and similarity of corporate names as in this case.
"In Cabot v. Clearwater Construction Company, 89 So.2d 662 [Fla.], while discussing the change in our modern Rules of Civil Practice and Procedures as it relates to misnomers, Justice Thornal said:
Now the objective of all pleadings is merely to provide a method for setting out the opposing contentions of the parties. No longer are we concerned with the `tricks and technicalities of the trade.' The trial of a lawsuit should be a sincere effort to arrive at the truth. It is no longer a game of the maneuver captures the prize.
"This Court denied Plaintiff's Motion for Leave to Amend nunc pro tunc at the beginning of the Trial. At the time of the denial the Court was not advised as to the law relating to misnomers. At the same time the Court denied Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings on the grounds Plaintiff had sued the wrong corporation.
"Since the Court has heard all the evidence it is crystal clear that this is a case of misnomer.

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Bluebook (online)
260 So. 2d 898, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sexton-v-panning-lumber-company-fladistctapp-1972.