Tam Sixty Corp. v. Walden

254 So. 2d 545, 1971 Fla. App. LEXIS 5759
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 20, 1971
DocketNo. 70-858
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 254 So. 2d 545 (Tam Sixty Corp. v. Walden) 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
Tam Sixty Corp. v. Walden, 254 So. 2d 545, 1971 Fla. App. LEXIS 5759 (Fla. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

LILES, Acting Chief Judge.

Plaintiffs, Tam Sixty Corporation, et al., seek appellate review of an adverse final judgment finding that the property in question was not entitled to an agricultural zoning classification for the purpose of taxation. The Tax Assessor of Hillsborough County and the County Agricultural Zoning Board of Hillsborough County declared that for the tax years of 1967 and 1968 this land was not entitled to agricultural zoning. Plaintiffs sued the Tax Assessor and the Zoning Board for a declaration of their rights. Judge Patton entered a twenty-one page final judgment in which he reviewed and summarized all the evidence, and found that this land was in fact not entitled to an agricultural zoning.

The very recent Florida Supreme Court cases of Greenwood v. Oates, 251 So.2d 665 filed July 12, 1971, and Conrad v. Sapp, 252 So.2d 225 filed July 14, 1971, are controlling in this matter. These cases involved a determination of whether or not a bona fide forestry operation existed for the purpose of agricultural zoning. Writing in Greenwood, Justice Dekle said:

“Moreover, because the considerations involved in these cases are primarily questions of fact, the role of the District Courts should, in general, be limited to a consideration of the sufficiency of the evidence. Clearly, it is not the function of an appellate court to substitute its judgment for that of the trier of fact, be it a jury or a trial judge. Accordingly, although an appellate court might have reached a different conclusion had it been the initial arbitrator of the factual issues, if a review of the record reflects competent, substantial evidence supporting the findings of the chancellor, the judgment should be affirmed.”

In Conrad, the Supreme Court said:

“Whether a particular tract of land is to be classified as agricultural for tax assessment purposes is a question of fact to be determined upon the evidence and the particular circumstances present in each case.”

[546]*546We have carefully reviewed the record in this case, and find that there is competent and substantial evidence to support Judge Patton’s findings. The judgment appealed is affirmed.

Affirmed.

HOBSON and McNULTY, JJ., concur.

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Related

Tam Sixty Corp. v. Walden
261 So. 2d 842 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1972)

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Bluebook (online)
254 So. 2d 545, 1971 Fla. App. LEXIS 5759, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tam-sixty-corp-v-walden-fladistctapp-1971.