City of Coral Gables v. State ex rel. Watson

• Decision Date: 21 December 1948
• Citation: 38 So.2d 48
• Parties: CITY OF CORAL GABLES v. STATE ex rel. WATSON, Attorney General, et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

38 So.2d 48

CITY OF CORAL GABLES v. STATE ex rel. WATSON, Attorney General, et al.

Florida Supreme Court

December 21, 1948

Rehearing Denied Jan. 13, 1949.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Dade County; N. Vernon Hawthorne Judge.

Edward L Semple, of Miami, for appellant.

Hudson & Cason, of Miami, and Henry P. Adair, of Jacksonville for appellees.

CHAPMAN, Justice.

Quo warranto proceedings were instituted in the Circuit Court of Dade County, Florida, in the name of the State of Florida, by Honorable J. Tom Watson, Attorney General of Florida, as relator, and Anna Matheson Wood and husband, Willie D. Wood Hugh M. Matheson, William J. Matheson, Hugh M. Matheson, Jr. Finley L. Matheson, Robert Hardy Matheson, William Deering Howe, Marion D. McCormick, and Barbara D. Danielson, as corelators, against the City of Coral Gables, a municipal corporation, for the purpose of ousting described lands from the jurisdiction, authority and control of said municipality on the theory that the lands of the co-relators are so peculiarly located within the incorporate limits of said city that they cannot and have not received municipal benefits, and the taxing of the co-relators' lands by the city amounts to the taking of property without due process of law.

Section 5 of Chapter 13970, Sp. Acts of 1929, Laws of Florida, established the boundaries of the City of Coral Gables. It begins at the northeast corner of Section 7, Tp. 54 South, Range 41 East, and runs south along an irregular line approximately 8 1/2 miles to Biscayne Bay; thence south into the Bay some 1500 feet; thence southeasterly to include Ragged Keys; thence northerly 1500 feet east of the shore line of Ragged Keys and Soldier Key and continues northerly 1500 feet east of the shore line of Key Biscayne; thence north to the intersection of S 1/2 of Section 28, Tp. 54 South, Range 42 East; thence west across Biscayne Bay to the mainland; thence by divers irregular and circuitous lines to point of beginning.

An accurate legal description of the lands owned by the co-relators is set out both in the information in quo warranto and the final judgment of ouster entered below. Exhibit 'E,' made a part of the information, is a map or plat disclosing the boundaries of the City of Coral Gables. By the map the lands are shown as a part of Key Biscayne, the northern portion thereof, by an Act of the 1947 Session of the Legislature, was created into Crandon Park, Soldier Key and Ragged Keys. Included within the municipal boundaries is a strip of the Atlantic Ocean and a cross section of Biscayne Bay. It is alleged that Ragged Keys are approximately 1.9 miles north and south and situated 2.8 miles south of Soldier Key. Soldier Key is 5.6 miles south of Key Biscayne. Some 4 or 5 miles of water separate Key Biscayne from the eastern shores or coast line of the City of Coral Gables. Soldier and Ragged Keys are separated from the mainland by water. In traveling by automobile from the municipal hall of Coral Gables to Biscayne Key it is necessary to traverse 4 miles of the streets of the City of Miami; thence 5 miles to Crandon Park and then 2 more miles to the nearest point of Biscayne Key, a distance of 11 miles; if by boat or plane approximately 5 miles.

It is not disputed that the lands of the co-relators are isolated by many miles of land and waters of Biscayne Bay and from the business and residential sections of Coral Gables; that the lands are devoted partly to horticultural purposes and are partly wild and unimproved, and because of this isolation it is very difficult for the City of Coral Gables to render municipal services or benefits to co-relators' lands. The city does not maintain on the lands streets, water, light, police or fire protection, but the lands are now subject to taxation by the City of Coral Gables for all municipal purposes as other property within the city limits now being taxed by it and receiving benefits. The court below entered a judgment of ouster and the City of Coral Gables appealed.

It is contended here that the co-relators are guilty of laches and are now estopped by acquiescence to maintain this quo warranto proceeding. It is pointed out that the location of co-relators' lands within the city was known to them and their predecessors in title and they made no objection until the filing of the suit at bar. The charter of the city authorized the issuance and the city did issue $1,000,000 of general obligation bonds; during the year 1926 it issued $4,532,000 and $1,237,000 in general obligation improvement bonds; that legal steps were taken during the period to refund some of these bonds and the co-relators, nor their predecessors in title, offered any legal objections to the validation proceedings or the refunding steps taken by the city and therefore cannot now be heard in this ouster proceeding.

Pertinent provisions of an able opinion prepared by Circuit Judge Hawthorne are full and complete answers to the several contentions of counsel for appellant, and are viz.:

'The information in this case was filed in the name of the state on...