Skinner v. Skinner
| Decision Date | 03 May 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 74149,74149 |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
| Parties | 15 Fla. L. Weekly S268 Jeffrey SKINNER, Petitioner, v. Lisa SKINNER, Respondent. |
Michael K. Davis, Davie, for petitioner.
Caryn S. Grainer of Caryn S. Grainer, P.A., Hollywood, for respondent.
We have for review Skinner v. Skinner, 541 So.2d 176 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), in which the district court certified to this Court the following issue as a question of great public importance:
Does a district court of appeal have jurisdiction to consider a petition for certiorari filed therein to review a non-final order which is reviewable by appeal where no notice of appeal was filed in the trial court?
We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. We answer the certified question in the affirmative and quash the decision of the district court.
Petitioner, Jeffrey Skinner, filed a petition for dissolution of marriage against respondent, Lisa Skinner. On August 20, 1987, the trial court entered an order directing benefits to respondent. Among such matters was an order for payment of a medical bill for chiropractic services rendered to respondent. Petitioner failed to make such payments and on December 30, 1987, an order was entered granting respondent's motion for contempt enforcing payment of the medical bill.
On February 1, 1988, the parties entered into a property settlement agreement and on February 8, 1988, an uncontested final hearing was held for final judgment of dissolution of marriage. The final order incorporated the property settlement agreement. However, petitioner failed to comply with the December 30, 1987, order and as a result respondent filed a motion for contempt on March 31, 1988. This motion was heard and denied on April 27, 1988, for lack of jurisdiction. Respondent then filed a motion for rehearing which was also denied on May 24, 1988.
Respondent then filed motion for relief from judgment and on November 14, 1988, the trial court entered an order granting this motion thereby ordering petitioner to pay respondent's chiropractic bill. Petitioner sought review of this order by petition for certiorari to the Fourth District Court of Appeal. The district court held that the trial court's order was designated nonfinal because immediate monetary relief was awarded in a domestic relations matter, and review thus must be by direct appeal. Accordingly, the petition for certiorari was dismissed for failure to properly invoke the jurisdiction of the district court.
The district court reached this conclusion on authority of Lampkin-Asam v. District Court of Appeal, 364 So.2d 469 (Fla.1978), receded from, Johnson v. Citizens State Bank, 537 So.2d 96 (Fla.1989). In that case petitioner sought to appeal an adverse judgment by mailing a notice of appeal two days prior to the thirty-day jurisdictional time limit. However, the notice was inadvertently sent to the district court rather than to the circuit court. Upon receipt, the clerk of the district court mailed the notice to the clerk of the circuit court, who in turn filed the notice. However, such filing was untimely and as a result the district court dismissed the appeal. On appeal, relying upon Southeast First National Bank of Miami v. Herin, 357 So.2d 716 (Fla.1978), receded from, Johnson v. Citizens State Bank, 537 So.2d 96 (Fla.1989), this Court agreed and held that the untimely filing of a notice of appeal constitutes a jurisdictional defect depriving the district court of jurisdiction. Lampkin-Asam, 364 So.2d at 471.
Although the district court held that Johnson v. Citizens State Bank, 537 So.2d 96 (Fla.1989), does not compel a contrary decision in this case, we believe otherwise. In Johnson, petitioners sought relief in their respective county courts, lost, and then appealed to the circuit court. Unsuccessful in the circuit court, they then filed a notice of appeal with the circuit court clerk within thirty days. However, the circuit court clerk did not transmit the notices to the respective district courts within thirty days from the rendition of the orders sought to be reviewed. As a result, both district courts dismissed the appeals because jurisdiction had not been timely invoked. On appeal, this Court held that a timely filed notice of appeal with the circuit court clerk is legally effective to vest jurisdiction in the district court in order to consider the appropriate remedy. Id. at 97.
Respondent contends that the district court did not err in dismissing petitioner's writ of certiorari because a notice of appeal was not filed in a lower tribunal. However petitioner argues that no substantive reason exists for having to file a piece of paper with the clerk of the circuit court which will automatically be forwarded to the district court, especially when the reverse circumstance, district courts accepting notice of appeals filed in circuit court as petitions for certiorari, has long been exercised. We agree.
All parties now agree that the order in question was a non-final order because it gave respondent a right to immediate monetary relief in a domestic relations matter. Fla.R.App.P. 9.130(a)(3)(C)(iii). As a result, the jurisdiction to seek review of such an order could only be invoked by filing with the clerk of the lower tribunal within thirty days of rendition of the order. Fla.R.App.P. 9.130(b).
However, article V, section 2(a), of the...
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Fla. Dep't of Corr. v. Gould
...court has jurisdiction to review a cause even though the form of appellate relief is mischaracterized."); see also Skinner v. Skinner, 561 So. 2d 260, 262 (Fla. 1990) (concluding that even though a party mischaracterized an appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari, the court possessed ju......
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Fla. Dep't of Corr. v. Gould
...court has jurisdiction to review a cause even though the form of appellate relief is mischaracterized."); see also Skinner v. Skinner, 561 So.2d 260, 262 (Fla. 1990) (concluding that even though a party mischaracterized appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari, the court possessed jurisd......
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Weisman v. Justice Admin. Comm'n
...an appellate court has jurisdiction to review a cause even though the form of appellate relief is mischaracterized."); Skinner v. Skinner , 561 So. 2d 260, 262 (Fla. 1990) (concluding that even though a party mischaracterized an appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari, the court possess......
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Sheley v. Florida Parole Com'n
...remedy had been sought." See, e.g., Johnson v. Citizens State Bank, 537 So.2d 96 (Fla.1989)(appeal treated as certiorari); Skinner v. Skinner, 561 So.2d 260 (Fla.1990)(certiorari treated as appeal). Based on the authority granted by rule 9.040(c), we treat the appeal in the present case as ......