Larson v. Warren, s. 40073
| Decision Date | 26 July 1961 |
| Docket Number | 40073-A,Nos. 40073,s. 40073 |
| Citation | 132 So.2d 177 |
| Parties | J. Edwin LARSON, as State Treasurer, ex-officio Insurance Commissioner of the State of Florida, Appellant, v. G. W. WARREN, Appellee. J. Edwin LARSON, as State Treasurer, ex-officio Insurance Commissioner of the State of Florida, Appellant, v. Elizabeth G. WILLIAMS, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., Robert J. Kelly and Gerald Mager, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellant.
Walter Warren, Leesburg, for appellee.
The above styled cases were by order of the trial court consolidated for appeal. A single brief in behalf of appellants and a single brief in behalf of appellees explore the questions raised in both cases. For convenience they will be referred to as (1) Larson vs. Warren and (2) Larson vs. Williams.
September 1, 1960, Warren filed his complaint in the Circuit Court of Lake County praying for a permanent injunction restraining Larson as administrator of the Financial Responsibility Act, Chapter 324, Florida Statutes 1959, F.S.A. from enforcing the provisions of said act against him [Warren]. The complaint also prayed for a final decree adjudicating § 324.021 et seq., Florida Statutes, F.S.A., as violative of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Section 12, Declaration of Rights, Constitution of Florida, F.S.A.
September 26, 1960, defendant moved to dismiss the complaint. October 3, 1960, the court entered an order restraining Larson from taking the plaintiff's driver's license and registration. November 10, 1960, the plaintiff moved for summary decree and on November 17, 1960, defendant filed a cross motion for summary decree.
December 9, 1960, the chancellor entered a final decree adjudicating § 324.021 et seq., Florida Statutes, F.S.A., to be unconstitutional, in violation of the due process provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and Section 12, Declaration of Rights, Constitution of Florida. The final decree permanently restrained Larson from interfering with the driver's license and registration of the plaintiff.
December 22, 1960, by agreement of counsel for both parties the chancellor admitted in evidence a certain traffic accident report relating to Warren and one John H. Gandy. December 21, 1960, Larson entered his appeal from the final judgment to this court and seasonably filed his assignments of error and directions to the clerk.
October 3, 1960, Williams filed her complaint in the Circuit Court of Lake County praying that Larson be directed to return to her the amount of $200, representing her security deposit made to him [Larson] pursuant to § 324.061, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. The complaint alleged that § 324.061 et seq., Florida Statutes, F.S.A. is unconstitutional and deprives the plaintiff of her property and rights without due process of law, contrary to the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, Constitution of the United States, and Section 12, Declaration of Rights, Constitution of Florida.
October 24, 1960, defendant moved to dismiss the complaint; November 10, 1960, plaintiff moved for summary decree and November 16, 1960, defendant filed a cross motion for summary decree.
December 6, 1960, the chancellor entered final decree adjudicating § 324.021 et seq., Florida Statutes, F.S.A., to be unconstitutional as violative of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and Section 12, Declaration of Rights, Constitution of Florida. The final decree permanently restrained defendant from interfering with the driver's license and registration of the plaintiff; it determined the cause to be a class suit, directed defendant to forthwith refund the security deposit posted by plaintiff and all others similarly situated, less fifteen percent thereof to be set aside for plaintiff's attorney.
December 21, 1960, defendant entered his appeal to this court and seasonably filed his assignments of error and directions to the clerk.
The appellant has argued six questions but as we see it, the situation may be resolved in answer to the single question of whether or not the chancellor committed error in holding the applicable provisions of Chapter 324, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. to be violative of the due process provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and Section 12, Declaration of Rights, Constitution of Florida.
This question is common to both the Warren case and the Williams case, but in the latter case, Mrs. Williams contends that the cash bond posted with appellant account of an alleged automobile accident should be returned to her and that a fee be paid her attorney on the ground that her suit is a class suit and that her attorney should be allowed a fee from the fund in the hands of appellant, the same having been accumulated by the unconstitutional requirement of posting bond by her and all others in similar situations.
We treat the constitutional question first. In order to place the issues in juxtaposition with the final decree, we recite the material part of the latter as entered on the motions for summary decree as follows:
'* * * such parts of Chapter 324.021, et seq., Florida Statutes, that authorize and direct the defendant to cause the suspension of the driver's license, the revocation of the automobile registration of certificate, and the taking up of the automobile license tag of the plaintiff, where he is said to have been involved in the injury to the person or property of another in connection with his automobile, and no court of competent jurisdiction having rendered a judgment establishing the liability of the plaintiff in connection with such event, are hereby declared to be unconstitutional for the reason that they violate the provisions of Section 12 of the Declaration of Rights of the Florida Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, and being unconstitutional, shall henceforth be null and void and of no force and effect and the defendant shall not attempt to enforce said unconstitutional provisions of said Chapter 324.021 et seq., from henceforth.'
Chapter 324, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. including the various provisions thereof involved in this case, is generally referred to as the Driver's Financial Responsibility Act. Its provisions pertinent to this case are lengthy and will not be quoted at length, but will be discussed sufficiently to clarify the question presented. The purpose of the act is well expressed in § 324.011, Florida Statutes, F.S.A.:
'It is the intent of this chapter to recognize the existing rights of all to own motor vehicles and to operate them on the public streets and highways of this state when such rights are used with due consideration for others; to promote safety, and provide financial security by such owners and operators whose responsibility it is to recompense others for injury to person or property caused by the operation of a motor vehicle, so it is required herein that the owner and operator of a motor vehicle involved in an accident shall respond for such damages and show proof of financial ability to respond for damages in future accidents as a requisite to his future exercise of such privileges.'
There is certainly nothing unreasonable about the content and purpose of the act; it recognizes the right of every one to own and operate an automobile on the public highways so long as done with due consideration to the rights of others. To promote safety and secure others for injury done them the owner must show proof of financial responsibility to respond in damages. More than forty years ago this court held that an automobile was a dangerous instrumentality. Southern Cotton Oil Co. v. Anderson, 80 Fla. 441, 86 So. 629, 16 A.L.R. 255. Certainly there is no better proof of this statement than the casualty reports published daily. These alone are sufficient to warrant strict rules and rigid enforcement of them to reduce deaths and property damages and make the highways a safer place for those who provide and use them. To the purpose of said act no objection is raised.
The state treasurer is designated as commissioner to enforce that phase of the Financial Responsibility Act having to do with financial responsibility of the automobile owner. He will hereinafter be referred to as 'commissioner.' The commissioner may take such steps as the law requires to keep the financial responsibility of the owner of an automobile current and may exact every showing within reason to do so. See §§ 324.021, 324.031, 324.042, 324.051 and 324.061, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. In the performance of this duty the commissioner has a very important and tremendous responsibility and that responsibility goes not only to the owner of the automobile involved in an accident, but to the entire public as well. Measured by this sense of responsibility, the acts of the commissioner in administering the act should be adjudicated.
It appears that appellees here were involved in automobile accidents; they could not secure release from liability of other parties involved in the accident and appellee Warren failed to post a cash bond as provided by § 324.061, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., and as required by the commissioner, account of which the commissioner threatened to revoke his driver's license and registration certificate. Appellee Williams deposited the required bond of two hundred dollars ($200.00) and sought in her suit to have it refunded. Appellees' grievance is that § 324.061, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., does not provide for a judicial hearing before revocation of their drivers' licenses and registration certificates, nor for a judicial appeal after such revocation.
In answer to this question it may be said at the outset that revocation of one's automobile license is not a peremptory act but is done after the commissioner has a full report of the accident from...
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