Outboard Marine Domestic Intern. Sales Corp. v. Florida Stevedoring Corp., 85-1939
Decision Date | 25 February 1986 |
Docket Number | No. 85-1939,85-1939 |
Citation | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 507,483 So.2d 823 |
Parties | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 507 OUTBOARD MARINE DOMESTIC INTERNATIONAL SALES CORP. and Yatacha C.A. For Use and Benefit of Underwriters at Lloyds of London, Appellants, v. FLORIDA STEVEDORING CORP., Appellee. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Edward F. Gerace, Tampa, for appellants.
Richard F. Ralph, Miami, for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ.
The statute of limitations on the cause of action asserted by the plaintiffs-appellants expired on March 7, 1983. On February 28, 1983, the clerk of the lower court received and clocked in an original complaint in the case, but returned it to the plaintiffs' counsel in Tampa because the accompanying check for the filing fee was $3.50 short. The complaint, this time with the appropriate fee, was resubmitted on March 8, 1983. The trial court entered summary judgment for the defendant on the ground that the latter admittedly untimely date was controlling for limitations purposes. Upon the directly contrary holding that tendering the correct filing fee is not a precondition to the filing of a complaint, we reverse.
This result is compelled by the holding of Williams v. State, 324 So.2d 74 (Fla.1975), that the required filing fee is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to the timely filing of a notice of appeal. Accord Weintraub v. Alter, 482 So.2d 454 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). That Williams controls is demonstrated conclusively by the decisions which, on the authority of Parissi v. Telechron, 349 U.S. 46, 75 S.Ct. 577, 99 L.Ed. 867 (1955), which is identical to and was followed in Williams, reach the same conclusion as to the complaint-commencement-of-action issue now before us. Wrenn v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 575 F.2d 544, 547 (5th Cir.1978); Bolduc v. United States, 189 F.Supp. 640 (D.Me.1960); Green v. Cotton Concentration Co., 294 F.Supp. 34 (S.D.Tex.1968); accord State ex rel. Crawford County v. Bouse, 586 S.W.2d 61 (Mo.Ct.App.1979) (en banc) (citing Parissi ); see Ajax Construction, Inc. v. State, 413 So.2d 779 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982) ( ); see also Pearce v. Parsons, 414 So.2d 296 (Fla.2d DCA 1982) ( ). Indeed, because, in contrast to the filing of a notice of appeal, the timely commencement of an action is not jurisdictional and implicates only the possibility of a clearly waivable limitations defense, Williams, if anything, applies even more clearly to this situation than to its own. 1 , 2 See Szteinbaum v. Kaes Inversiones y Valores, 476 So.2d 247 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985) .
1 Both the lower court and the appellee have relied upon State ex rel. Kaufman v. Sutton, 231 So.2d 874, 875 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970), to the effect that "[t]he acceptance of the filing of a complaint is a mere ministerial act, and the officer charged with the responsibility of receiving same is required to accept what is tendered to him if it is accompanied by the proper fee." Since the filing fee issue was not at all involved in Sutton, it is doubtful that this language may be fairly read to support the negative implication sought to be drawn from it--that the clerk need not accept a complaint if the proper fee is not tendered. If it does, it is surely no more than inconclusive dictum. Whatever the proper interpretation of Sutton...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Frew v. Poole and Kent Co.
...for limitations purposes, when a complaint is filed. See Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.050, and Outboard Marine Domestic Intern. Sales Corp. v. Florida Stevedoring Corp., 483 So.2d 823, 824 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). See also Klosenski v. Flaherty, 116 So.2d 767 (Fla.1959). Accordingly, a plaintiff filing an ori......
-
Grantley v. Clerk of the Circuit Court
...(Fla. 1st DCA 2007) ; Faddis v. Carlton, 626 So. 2d 1122, 1122-23 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993) ; Outboard Marine Domestic Int'l Sales Corp. v. Fla. Stevedoring Corp., 483 So. 2d 823, 824 n.1 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). Accordingly, petitioner has demonstrated "a clear legal right to the performance of the a......
-
Shoppes of Liberty City, LLC v. Sotolongo
...proposals — when this defendant was first named in the proposed amended complaint. See also Outboard Marine Domestic Int'l Sales Corp. v. Fla. Stevedoring Corp., 483 So.2d 823 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986) (action commenced for statute of limitations purposes when complaint was submitted to the clerk ......
-
Moses v. Bystrom
...fashion. Blake v. R.M.S. Holding Corp., 341 So.2d 795, 799 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977); see Outboard Marine Domestic International Sales Corp. v. Florida Stevedoring Corp., 483 So.2d 823, 824 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). The taxpayers' reliance on section 192.047(1), Florida Statutes (1979) 2 in this regard ......