Sinclair Refining Co. v. Hunter

• Decision Date: 21 July 1939
• Citation: 191 So. 38,139 Fla. 803
• Parties: SINCLAIR REFINING CO. v. HUNTER et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

191 So. 38

139 Fla. 803

SINCLAIR REFINING CO. v. HUNTER et al.

Florida Supreme Court, Division A.

July 21, 1939

As Modified on Rehearing August 1, 1939.

Certiorari to Circuit Court, Dade County; Worth W. Trammell, Judge.

Certiorari proceeding by the Sinclair Refining Company, a corporation against Parks C. Hunter and others, individually and as copartners doing business under the name of the Central Georgia Oil Company, to review a judgment of the circuit court dismissing a writ of error to the civil court of record of Dade county.

Writ of certiorari quashed.

COUNSEL

Frank L. Butts, of Miami, for petitioner.

Roy S Wood and Troy C. Davis, both of Miami, for respondent.

OPINION

BUFORD Justice.

This case is before us on certiorari directed to the judgment of the Circuit Court of Dade County dismissing writ of error to the Civil Court of Record of Dade County, which writ of error was sued out pursuant to a judgment entered on October 26 1936. The writ of error was sued out on April 23, 1937.

The writ of error was dismissed in the Circuit Court because in its suing out the provisions of Section 3 of chapter 15666, Acts of 1931, Ex.Sess., were not complied with in that the writ of error was sued out more than thirty days after the entry of the judgment to which it was addressed without the Judge of the Civil Court of Record or either of the Judges of the Appellate Court having made an order extending the time within which such writ of error could be sued out.

Sections 1, 2 and 3 of chapter 15666, Acts of 1931, Ex.Sess., are as follows:

'Section 1. The Circuit Court of any County in this State in which there shall be established and existing a Civil Court of Record under and pursuant to Chapter 11357, Laws of Florida, approved November 30, 1925, shall have final appellate jurisdiction in all civil cases arising in such Civil Court of Record.

'Section 2. All proceedings in the Circuit Court to review any final judgment rendered in or by any such Civil Court of Record, shall be by writ of error, issued out of any [sic] by said Circuit Court and directed to said Civil Court of Record.

'Section 3. All such writs of error shall be tested in the name of the Judge or Judges of said Appellate Court, as the case may be, and shall issue on demand as a matter of right, from the office of the Clerk of said Appellate Court or from that of the Clerk of said Civil Court of Record, and shall be sued out not later than thirty days after the entry of the final judgment sought to be reviewed, and shall be made returnable to said Appellate Court not more than forty days after the date of the writ; provided, that the Judge of the said Civil Court of Record or either of the Judges of said Appellate Court shall have power on good cause shown to extend the time within which said writ of error may be sued out or made returnable; and provided further that no dismissal shall be had on account of such writ having been made returnable on a legal holiday or Sunday.'

Chapter 11357, Extraordinary Session of 1925, established Civil Courts of Record in all counties in Florida having a population of 100,000 inhabitants according to the last State census, and which said counties at that time had no Civil Court of Record established.

In the case of State of Florida ex rel. Rifas v. Atkinson, et al., 102 Fla. 1028, 137 So. 266, 267, we said:

'The civil court of record which exists in Dade county is provided for by chapter 11357, Acts of 1925, Extra Session Laws, approved November 30, 1925. The object of chapter 15666, Acts of 1931, supra, is to provide for and regulate writs of error from the circuit courts to those civil courts of record in this state which are organized and exist under said chapter 11357, Acts of 1925, and to provide a special mode for the hearing, consideration and disposition in the circuit court of writs of error so provided for. Section 2 of chapter 15666 expressly provides that all proceedings in the circuit court to review any final judgment rendered in or by any such civil court of record shall be by writ of error. Apparently this is intended to be the exclusive method of review with reference to matters falling within the purview of the 1931 act, but this question need not be decided at this time. Viewed comprehensively, the act in its entirety appears to set up a new and distinct method of review by the circuit court of judgments rendered in the civil courts of record organized under chapter 11357, supra.'

Another phase of chapter 15666, Acts of 1931, Ex.Sess., was before this Court in the case of Grodin v. Railway Express Agency, 116 Fla. 378, 156 So. 476, and in State ex rel. Grodin v. Barns et al., 119 Fla. 405, 161 So. 568, but the two latter cases have no bearing upon the question presented in this case. The title of that Act is:

'An Act Providing for and Regulating Writs of Error From the Circuit Courts to Those Civil Courts of Record in This State Organized and Existing Under Chapter 11357, of the Laws of Florida, Approved November 30, 1925, and for the Hearing, Consideration and Disposition of the Same.'

Therefore, it is apparent that the provision of Section 3 regulating writs of error, 'shall be sued out not later than thirty days after the entry of the final judgment sought to be reviewed,' is within the purview of the title of the Act.

It has ever been recognized that it is competent for the legislature to prescribe the time within which writs of error should be sued out after judgment. See State ex rel. Pensacola & A R. Co. v. Walker, 32 Fla. 431, 13 So. 928; Summerlin v. Tyler et ux., 6 Fla. 718; Atlantic C. L. R. Co. v. Holliday, 73 Fla. 269, 74 So. 479; McClellan v. Wood, 78 Fla. 407, 83 So. 295; Simmons v. Hanne, 50 Fla. 267, 39 So. 77, 7...