Whitaker v. Jacksonville Expressway Authority

129 So. 2d 188, 1961 Fla. App. LEXIS 3080
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 25, 1961
DocketNo. C-305
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 129 So. 2d 188 (Whitaker v. Jacksonville Expressway Authority) 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
Whitaker v. Jacksonville Expressway Authority, 129 So. 2d 188, 1961 Fla. App. LEXIS 3080 (Fla. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

WIGGINTON, Chief Judge.

Appellant was defendant in an eminent domain proceeding instituted under Chapter 73 of the statutes, F.S.A. He has appealed from the final judgment entered in the cause.

The case is now before the court on appellee’s motion to dismiss the appeal. The record reveals that the judgment appealed was rendered by the trial court on October 31, 1960. The notice of appeal was filed in the Circuit Court of Duval County on December 22, 1960. Appellee contends that this court has no jurisdiction to consider the appeal because the notice thereof was not filed within 30 days from the rendition of the judgment sought to be reviewed as required by that section of the statute authorizing appeals from final judgments in eminent domain proceedings. The statute on which appellee relies provides as follows :

“Any person aggrieved by the final judgment may appeal to the supreme court, but no appeal shall be entered after thirty days from the rendition of the judgment, and such appeal shall in no case operate as a supersedeas where the petitioner has paid the amount of compensation into court as aforesaid, so as to prevent the petitioner’s appro[189]*189priation of the property pending the appeal. If, at any time after the appeal is taken, the defendant shall take out of the court the amount found to be due him, the appeal shall be dismissed in the supreme court upon the filing of a certificate by the clerk of the circuit court, stating that the defendant has taken out the compensation as aforesaid. Laws 1941, c. 20930, § 14.”1

It is apparent that the notice of appeal in this case was filed by appellant more than 30 days, but within 60 days, after the rendition of the judgment sought to be reviewed. If the statute relied upon by appel-lee is controlling, it obviously appears that the notice was not filed within 30 days from the rendition of the judgment as required by the statute. Failure to perfect an appeal within the time provided by law divests the appellate court of jurisdiction to hear the appeal, and requires that it be dismissed.

The prime question which we must decide is whether the cited section of the statute which requires that appeals from final judgments in eminent domain proceedings must be taken to the supreme court within 30 days from the rendition of the judgment sought to be reviewed is valid and controlling in this and all like cases. The statute in question was originally enacted by the legislature at a time when jurisdiction to review final judgments entered in eminent domain proceedings was vested exclusively in the Supreme Court of this state. It was for that reason that the statute very properly provided that appeals from final judgments in proceedings of this kind should be to the supreme court. By amended Article V, of the Constitution, adopted in 1956 and which became effective on July 1, 1957, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to review by direct appeal final judgments' entered in eminent domain proceedings was withdrawn except in those cases in which the judgment directly passes upon the validity of a state statute, a federal statute or treaty, or construes a controlling provision of the state or federal constitution.2 Exclusive jurisdiction to review eminent domain judgments not included within the mentioned exception is vested by the amended Constitution in the District Courts of Appeal.3 We are primarily concerned with the effect those provisions of the amended Constitution prescribing the respective jurisdictions of the Supreme Court and the District Courts of Appeal have upon the cited section of the statute which provides that appeals shall be taken to the Supreme Court and which limits the time within which appeals may be taken to 30 days from the date on which the judgment is rendered.

In the Codomo case4 petitioner sought a writ of certiorari from the Supreme Court to review a final order entered by the Florida Real Estate Commission suspending petitioner’s registration as a real estate broker. The question posed for decision related to the proper method of reviewing the administrative order in question. The statute then in effect provided that final orders of the Real Estate Commission may be reviewed by appeal to the Circuit Court of the county from which the appellant applied for registration, and limited the time for taking the appeal to thirty days.5 At the time this statute was enacted the Constitution then in effect vested in the circuit courts of the state final appellate jurisdiction of all such matters as the legislature may provide.6 It was upon this constitutional basis that the legislature appropriately provided that appeals from orders of the Real Estate Commission should be taken directly to the circuit court. The last mentioned provision of the former Constitution was eliminated from the [190]*190amended Constitution adopted in 1956 which is presently in effect.7 In commenting upon the effect which the change in the appellate jurisdiction of the circuit court brought about by adoption of the amended Constitution had upon the statute there in question, the Supreme Court held that the elimination by the amended Constitution of the circuit court’s jurisdiction to hear appeals of “such other matters as the Legislature may provide” demonstrated an intention on the part of the framers to remove the support for the statute, and that the statute accordingly must fall. It was held that absent the appeal provision of the statute the only appropriate method of review under the amended Constitution was by cer-tiorari to the circuit court. The effect of this decision is that the time for perfecting such review is sixty days from the rendition of the order as provided by the Florida Appellate Rules governing certiorari, rather than the thirty-day appeal time provided by the stricken statute. To have held that the adoption of the amended Constitution merely amended by implication the statute by eliminating the provision for review by appeal, and substituting a provision for review by certiorari, thereby retaining the thirty-day time limit for perfecting such a review, would have done violence to the expressed legislative intent. It was the obvious intention of the legislature that orders of this type should be accorded the wide scope of review provided for by appeal rather than the narrow scope of review limited by the rules relating to certiorari.

In Wartman, In re Wartman’s Estate, 128 So.2d 600, the Supreme. Court had before it for consideration the correctness of a decision rendered by the Third District Court of Appeal. 118 So.2d 838. By its decision the District Court held that notices of appeal to review final orders or decrees of the county judge’s court in probate matters must be filed within thirty days from the rendition of the order sought to be reviewed. The notice of appeal in that case having been filed more than thirty days from the rendition of the order appealed, the appeal was accordingly dismissed.

In determining that the time for taking an appeal from a final judgment or decree rendered in probate matters was limited to thirty days, the District Court relied upon the section of the Probate Act which reads as follows:

"Time for appeal. — An appeal to the circuit court from an order or judgment of the county judge in a probate matter must be taken within thirty days from the date on which the order or judgment appealed was filed in the office of the county judge.” 8

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Related

Whitaker v. Jacksonville Expressway Authority
133 So. 2d 319 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1961)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
129 So. 2d 188, 1961 Fla. App. LEXIS 3080, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitaker-v-jacksonville-expressway-authority-fladistctapp-1961.