Palmer v. R. S. Evans, Jacksonville, Inc.

Decision Date05 January 1954
Citation69 So.2d 342
PartiesPALMER v. R. S. EVANS, JACKSONVILLE, Inc.
CourtFlorida Supreme Court

John L. Nixon and M. W. Goldstein, Jacksonville, for petitioner.

Osborne, Copp & Markham, Jacksonville, for respondent.

MATHEWS, Justice.

A petition for certiorari seeks to review an order denying motion to dismiss a bill of complaint which sought to reform a conditional sales contract which was to be used in evidence in a personal injury case.

In the personal injury case on the law side of the Court Palmer brought suit against Hughes and Evans for damages sustained by reason of injuries when Palmer was struck by an automobile driven by Hughes which was alleged to have been owned by Evans.

The pleadings in the common-law suit were attached to and made a part of the bill of complaint in the chancery suit. The complaint in the law suit was filed on August 25, 1952, and the complaint in the chancery suit was filed October 1, 1953, after the pleadings had been settled in the common-law suit and after the defendant Evans had unsuccessfully sought a summary judgment in the common-law suit. The plaintiff alleged in the common-law suit that Evans was the owner of the automobile at the time of the accident. The defendant Evans filed his defenses in the common-law suit in which he denied that he was the owner of the automobile at the time of the accident and further alleged that prior to the accident he had sold and delivered the automobile to Hughes, and that Hughes was driving the same at the time of the collision.

In the chancery suit Evans claimed that he was not the owner of the automobile and that a conditional sales contract, which bore date of the 19th day of August, 1952, should have been dated August 18, 1952, and that it was a mutual mistake between Evans and Hughes that the conditional sales contract was not correctly dated. Evans prayed, first, that the conditional sales contract be reformed to show the correct date of the execution thereof, and second, that the Court enter a decree that Evans did not have title, ownership or possession of the automobile at the time of the collision and further declare that Evans had no liability to Palmer or anyone else for loss or injury that may have been sustained as a result of said collision.

The question of ownership was directly in issue in the common-law suit and under the defenses interposed there was no reason why such question could not be submitted to and determined by the jury....

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4 cases
  • Palmer v. R. S. Evans, Jacksonville, Inc.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Florida
    • 8 Julio 1955
    ...suit should be dismissed and that the issue of ownership could be submitted to the jury in the damage suit. See Palmer v. R. S. Evans, Jacksonville, Inc., Fla., 69 So.2d 342. The damage suit has now been tried and the jury found for plaintiff against Hughes but not against R. S. Evans. It i......
  • Escobar v. Bill Currie Ford, Inc.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Florida
    • 3 Marzo 1971
    ...1955). Palmer v. Evans, Supra, does not support defendant's summary judgment, since in a prior decision in the same case, 69 So.2d 342 (Fla.1954), this Court held that the question of ownership was proper for submission to the jury, and not for decision by the judge in a separate chancery a......
  • Food Fair, Inc. v. Gold
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • 29 Enero 1985
  • Metzel v. Robinson
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Florida
    • 30 Abril 1958
    ...that the true ownership was in Bryant. Appellant relies mainly upon Palmer v. R. S. Evans, Jacksonville, Inc., Fla., 81 So.2d 635 and 69 So.2d 342; Ragg v. Hurd, Fla., 60 So.2d 673, and related cases. These cases concern situations where a sale of the automobile has been consummated or is i......
1 books & journal articles
  • More than you wanted to know about the doctrine of reformation.
    • United States
    • Florida Bar Journal Vol. 78 No. 9, October 2004
    • 1 Octubre 2004
    ...1366 (Fla. 1987). (10) Mathews v. Florida Crossbreeders, Inc., 330 So. 2d 183 (Fla. 2d D.C.A. 1976). (11) Palmer v. R.S. Evans, Jax Inc., 69 So. 2d 342 (Fla. 1954); Florida Ins. Co. v. Bozeman, 50 So. 513 (Fla. 1909); Taylor v. Glen Falls Ins. Co., 32 So. 882 (Fla. (12) Home v. Turner Cypre......

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