Walker v. Telfair Stockton Co.

• Decision Date: 02 March 1943
• Parties: WALKER v. TELFAIR STOCKTON CO. et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

12 So.2d 177

152 Fla. 434

WALKER v. TELFAIR STOCKTON CO. et al.

Florida Supreme Court

March 2, 1943

Appeal from Circuit Court, Duval County; Bayard B Shields, judge.

Frank R Greene, of Ocala, for appellant.

Thomas B Barton, of Tampa, for appellee.

THOMAS, Justice.

The facts essential to a decision of this appeal are simple. The award of a deputy commissioner was filed in the office of the Florida Industrial Commission and became final seven days later, no interested party having requested a review by the whole commission, Section 25(d), of Chapter 17481, Laws of Florida 1935, as amended by Section 7 of Chapter 20672, Laws of Florida, 1941 (Florida Workmen's Compensation Act) Paragraph (4), Section 440.25, Florida Statutes, 1941. The notice of appeal to the circuit court was lodged more than twenty days after the deputy's order was filed, but within twenty days from the expiration of the seven-day period when the order became that of the full commission under the provisions of the above cited statute.

The gist of the dispute, consequently, is the point of time from which the period for taking an appeal should be computed: the day the deputy's report is filed (as insisted by appellee), or the seventh day thereafter when it becomes absolute (as asserted by appellant). The circuit judge adopted the former view when he granted the motion to dismiss.

Appellee leans heavily upon the opinion of this court in Johnson v. Midland Constructors, Fla., 7 So.2d 449, but it is our view that that decision may not be relied upon to dispose of the instant controversy.

It was expressly stated there that the 'only question' under consideration was 'whether * * * appeal may be taken * * * from an order which was been made by a Deputy Commissioner and has remained on file * * * 7 days without affirmative action having been taken by the full Commission as to such order.' (Italics supplied.) A majority of the court decided the question in the affirmative. To demonstrate the inconclusiveness of that ruling when applied to the present case we need but add that an examination of the original file has disclosed that the notice of appeal was taken within twenty days after the filing of the preliminary award, and was therefore within the prescribed time under either construction.

In these circumstances the language employed in that decision 'Thereafter, and within 20 days from the date of the filing of such order...