State ex rel. Hartford Fire Insurance Co. Group v. Taylor

145 So. 2d 751
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 19, 1962
DocketNo. 3156
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 145 So. 2d 751 (State ex rel. Hartford Fire Insurance Co. Group v. Taylor) 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
State ex rel. Hartford Fire Insurance Co. Group v. Taylor, 145 So. 2d 751 (Fla. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

SHANNON, Chief Judge.

This appeal is from a final judgment dismissing with prejudice a petition for a peremptory writ of mandamus filed below by appellant-petitioner. The appellee was respondent below.

On October 2, 1961, petitioner tendered to respondent below for filing in the circuit court a complaint seeking judgment against one Tony Gonzalo in the amount of $588.10, exclusive of interest and costs. Respondent Clerk refused to accept the complaint for filing on the ground that the circuit court did not have jurisdiction of the cause since the amount involved was less than $1,000.00. Respondent’s action was based on Ch. 61-815, Laws of Florida, 1961, which gave the Civil Claims Court of Hillsborough County “jurisdiction over all civil claims of an amount from $100.00 to $1,000.00, inclusive.” Ch. 61-815 was an amendment to Ch. 25574, Laws of Florida, 1949, which established in “each county in this state having a population of not less than 160,000 and not more than 270,000 inhabitants according to the last state census, a court known as a civil claims court, which court shall have jurisdiction over all civil claims of an amount from $100.00 to $500.00.” The 1949 law further provided, in Sec. 13: “Jury trials may be had upon demand of the plaintiff at the time of the commencement of his suit or by the defendant within five days after service of notice of suit by depositing with the judge or his clerk such sum as the judge may fix as reasonable to secure the payment of costs incurred by reason of jury trial.”

Ch. 61-815, supra, amended Ch. 25574, supra, “established in each county in this state having a population of not less than three hundred ninety thousand (390,000) inhabitants and not more than four hundred fifty thousand (450,000) inhabitants according to the latest official state-wide decennial census, a court known as a civil claims court, which court shall have jurisdiction over all civil claims of an amount from $100.00 to $1,000.00, inclusive.”

On January 2, 1962, the State on the relation of Hartford Fire Insurance Group filed its petition for an alternative writ of mandamus seeking to require the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Flillsborough County to accept for filing as his ministerial duty the action at law for damages of $588.10. On the same day the alternative writ issued with respondent’s consent and return was filed. Petitioner moved for a peremptory writ and the order of dismissal was subsequently entered.

[753]*753It was alleged by the petitioner that the jurisdiction of the civil claims court must be concurrent with that of the circuit court within the $500.00 to $1,000.00 range and that the law of Florida does not prevent such concurrent jurisdiction. Additionally, it was asserted that the Clerk’s interpretation of Ch. 61-815, Laws of Florida, 1961, supra, is unreasonable and arbitrary in that it tends to create a class of persons who cannot obtain trial by jury in a civil case in Hillsborough County without payment of a deposit for costs, thereby making trial by jury difficult or impossible for those litigants.

The return filed by respondent admitted most of the factual allegations but denied the conclusions and interpretations drawn in the petition. It likewise denied concurrent jurisdiction of the two courts.

In its order of dismissal, the court stated, inter alia:

“(c) That by virtue of the provisions of Chapter 61-815, Laws of Florida, 1961, the Circuit Court of Hills-borough County, Florida, was deprived of original jurisdiction of all civil claims not involving an amount in excess of One Thousand Dollars ($1,-000.00); that jurisdiction of such claims is now vested in the Civil Claims Court of Hillsborough County, Florida (and other Courts of limited jurisdiction not involved herein) ; and that jurisdiction of such cases is not vested concurrently in this Court and said Civil Claims Court. See Mendez v. Ortega, Fla.App., 134 So.2d 247.
“(d) That the provisions of Chapter 25574, Laws of Florida, 1949, as amended by Chapter 61-815, Laws of Florida, 1961, which require a cost deposit for payment of jurors as a condition to obtaining a jury trial, do not deprive Petitioner of its constitutional right to trial by jury and that the cost deposit required by the Civil Claims Court of Hillsborough County pursuant to said provisions is not unreasonable or excessive and does not make trial by jury in said Court difficult or impossible so as to deprive Petitioner of its right to trial by jury; State [ex rel. Murphy-McDonald Builders’ Supply Co.] v. Parks [Fla.], 43 So.2d 347.
“(e) That the provisions of Chapter 25574, Laws of Florida, 1949, as amended by Chapter 61-715 [sic] Laws of Florida, 1961, do not unlawfully or unconstitutionally create a class of persons who are deprived of the right to trial by jury in civil cases involving claims of more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00).”

From this order petitioner appeals.

The points presented by appellant-petitioner raise the questions: 1) whether or not the circuit court has concurrent jurisdiction with the civil claims court in cases at law involving more than $500.00 but less than $1,000.00; and 2) whether or not Ch. 61-815, supra, effectively denies the right to trial by jury.

Article V, Sec. 1, of the Florida Constitution, F.S.A., provides:

“The judicial power of the State of Florida is vested in a supreme court, district courts of appeal, circuit courts, Court of Record of Escambia County, criminal courts of record, county courts, county judge’s courts, juvenile courts, courts of justices of the peace, and such other courts, including municipal courts, or commissions, as the legislature may from time to time ordain and establish.”

Pursuant to this constitutional authority, the 1949 Florida Legislature enacted Ch. 25574, supra, and in 1961, amended it with the enactment of Ch. 61-815, supra. These acts created in Hillsborough County a civil claims court with jurisdictional limits of $100.00 and $1,000.00, in cases at law.

[754]*754Article V, Sec. 6(3), the section dealing with jurisdiction of the circuit courts, provides that they “shall have exclusive original jurisdiction * * * in all cases at law not cognizable by subordinate courts, sjc ⅜ ‡ »

In the case of State ex rel. Murphy-McDonald Builders’ Supply Co. v. Parks, Fla.1949, 43 So.2d 347, the Supreme Court decided several questions regarding the validity and effect of Ch. 25574, supra, but did not decide the question of concurrent jurisdiction raised herein. Later, however, in the case of Caudell v. Leventis, Fla.1950, 43 So.2d 853, the Supreme Court, faced with the question whether the Circuit Court of Dade County had power and authority to transfer to the Civil Court of Record of Dade County a common law action instituted in the Circuit Court, when it appeared that the amount involved did not exceed $5,000.00, exclusive of interest and costs, had this to say:

“The jurisdiction of courts in this state is regulated by the Constitution or by statutes duly enacted pursuant to the Constitution. Section 11 of Article V of the Constitution of Florida, F.S.A., fixes the jurisdiction of the Circuit Courts of the State, including the Circuit Court of Dade County, by giving them ‘exclusive original jurisdiction in all cases in equity, also in all cases at law, not cognizable by inferior courts,

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Bluebook (online)
145 So. 2d 751, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-hartford-fire-insurance-co-group-v-taylor-fladistctapp-1962.