State v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co.

• Decision Date: 12 July 1922
• Citation: 84 Fla. 123,92 So. 871
• Parties: STATE ex rel. CARTMEL v. AETNA CASUALTY & SURETY CO. et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

92 So. 871

84 Fla. 123

STATE ex rel. CARTMEL v. AETNA CASUALTY & SURETY CO. et al.

Florida Supreme Court

July 12, 1922

Original application for writ of prohibition by the State, on the relation of Frank Cartmel, against the AEtna Casualty &amp Surety Company and others.

Writ denied.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

Statute prohibiting appellate court from indulging in presumption as to correctness of verdict not denial of due process within federal Constitution; statute prohibition appellate court from indulging in presumptions as to correctness of verdict not violative of constitutional right to jury trial. The federal Constitution does not expressly require jury trials in state courts, and the provisions of the state Constitution (Declaration of Rights, § 3) that 'The right of trial by jury shall be secured to all, and remain inviolate forever,' does not forbid statutory provisions that in appellate proceedings the appellate court shall not indulge presumptions as to the correctness of the verdict of the jury in the trial court, since, where general appellate jurisdiction is given by the Constitution, the appellate court in appropriate proceedings duly taken may review the merits of the cause, including a consideration of the evidence and a determination of its probate force under the issues made by the pleadings, as well as review the questions of law presented by the record.

Verdict of jury subject to appellate review. A verdict of a jury creates no absolute right; but a verdict is subject to appellate review.

Constitutional right to jury trial extends only to determination of contested issues. The organic right to a jury trial extends only to a determination of contested issues involving the facts of a litigated case.

Verdict contrary to law or manifest weight of evidence may be set aside. A verdict rendered may be set aside by the trial court, if in the judgment of the trial court the verdict is contrary to law on the issues presented or the verdict does not accord with the manifest weight of the evidence and the principles of right and justice.

Weight given to verdict by trial court or appellate court cannot be controlled by Legislature. What weight a trial court or an appellate court of general jurisdiction shall give to the verdict of a jury is a judicial matter that cannot be controlled by legislative enactment.

Statute prohibiting appellate court from indulging presumptions as to correctness of verdict held not violative of statute prescribing jurisdiction of circuit court. In the procedure prescribed by chapter 7841, Acts 1919, there is no trial de novo, but a review of the record as made in the trial court and the appellate court merely affirms the judgment or reverses the judgment, with directions for further proceedings in the trial court.

Statute prohibiting appellate court from indulging presumptions as to correctness of verdict held not violative of due process clauses of state Constitution. The appellate proceedings outlined by chapter 7841, Acts 1919, does not deny the organic right to a jury trial or to due process of law.

COUNSEL

George C. Bedell, of Jacksonville, for petitioner.

OPINION

WHITFIELD J.

A petition, praying for a writ of prohibition filed herein, in effect alleges:

That Cartmel obtained a judgment against the Casualty & Surety Company in the civil court of record for Duval county; that a new trial in the cause was denied by the trial judge; that an appeal was taken to the circuit court by the defendant 'that in the said cause no writ of error has been sued out or returned to the circuit court for Duval county, Fla., but that the original files of the civil court of record in said cause have been, as this petitioner is informed and believes and upon information and belief alleges, deposited in the circuit court for Duval county, Fla., together with a certified copy of the judgment in the civil court of record above mentioned, and that the said AEtna Casualty & Surety Company is acting in pursuance of chapter 7841 of the Laws of 1919, p. 125, which said supposed enactment is as this petitioner alleges void and in conflict with both the Constitution of the state of Florida and the Constitution of the United States, in that it requires the appellate court to affirm or reverse the judgment appealed from as the justice of the cause shall require, without regard to any presumption being indulged in to support the correctness of the judgment appealed from and to issue its mandate to the lower court with its findings upon such appeal, contrary to the third, fourth, and twelfth sections of the Declaration of Rights of the Constitution of the state of Florida, and contrary to section 11 of article 5 of the Constitution of the state of Florida with respect to the jurisdiction of circuit courts, and contrary to section 1 of [84 Fla. 126] article 14 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the United States; that unless restrained by writ of prohibition the honorable circuit court for Duval county, Fla., will proceed to a consideration of the appeal or proceeding brought by said AEtna Casualty & Surety Company.'

The Constitution provides that----

'The judicial power of the State shall be vested in a supreme court, circuit courts, court of record of Escambia county, criminal courts, county courts, county judges and justices of the peace and such other courts or commissions as the Legislature may from time to time ordain and establish.' Section 1, art. 5, Constitution, as amended in 1914.

Chapter 8521, Acts of 1921, repealed previous statutes relative to civil courts of record, and created civil courts of record in counties having more than 100,000 population. The statute contains the following provisions:

'Sec. 9. The rules of pleading, practice, procedure and evidence, and the laws of this state prescribing rules of pleading, practice, procedure and evidence, and prescribing the services and return of process of circuit courts, shall, so far as they are applicable, govern in civil courts of record.

'Sec. 10. All the provisions of the Revised General Statutes of Florida, and laws amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, which can be applied to the civil courts of record, or to any proceeding therein, or to any officer thereof, shall be applicable thereon in all cases except where they are inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

'Sec. 11. The circuit courts shall have appellate jurisdiction in all cases decided by the civil courts of record, in the same manner and with the same imitations as now or hereafter prescribed as to appellate jurisdiction of cases in the county court.'

Chapter 7841 is as follows:

'An act to provide a simplified method of taking and prosecuting appeals from county courts, county judge's courts and justices of the peace courts of this state.

'Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Florida:

'Section 1. Any judgment of a county court, county judge's court of justice of the peace court of this state may be reviewed by the proper appellate court having jurisdiction of the appeal, in the following manner:

'(1) If there be matters in pais which require a bill of exceptions, such bill of exceptions shall be prepared, presented and filed with the judge of the court within sixty days after the adjournment of the court in the same manner and subject to the same rules and regulations in regard to settling and signing the same as prevail in circuit courts.

'(2) The party appealing shall enter his written notice of appeal by filing the same with the clerk, or judge if there be no clerk, and a copy of such entry of appeal shall be served upon the defendant in error, or his attorney, or the state's attorney, if the appeal be taken in a criminal case, and such entry of appeal filed shall be forthwith entered of record in the cause being appealed and shall give the appellate court full and complete jurisdiction of the subject-matter and the parties without the service of any process whatsoever.

'(3) Appeals under this act shall be made returnable before the proper appellate court not less than thirty nor more than ninety days from the filing thereof, and shall be sued out within three months from the date of rendition...