HAROLD F. KEEFE, ESQUIRE, APPELLANT,
v.
THE CITY OF HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1986-04-23
No. 85-1994
HERSEY, C.J., and GUNTHER, J., concur.
487 So. 2d 311 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1986) Positive Treatment
Cited by 11 cases

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Holding

A principal can grant an agent the power to bring a replevin action via a power of attorney.


Facts & Procedural History

The trial court ruled that an agent could not bring a replevin action on behalf of a principal using a power of attorney. The appellate court reviewed…

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Opinion of the Court
LETTS, Judge.

LETTS, Judge.

The issue before us is whether a principal can give a power of attorney to an agent to bring a replevin action. The trial judge said he could not. We disagree and reverse.

Section 78.055, Florida Statutes (1985), specifies that a complaint in a replevin action should contain a statement that the plaintiff is the owner of the claimed property or is entitled to pdssession of it. It is argued here that one who merely possesses a power of attorney does not qualify under that statutory language.

We find nothing in the statute to prohibit a principal from granting a power of attorney to an agent. See Hodges v. Surratt, 366 So. 2d 768 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978). We realize by giving effect to a valid power of attorney it might appear at first blush that we are giving a fugitive from justice the chance to litigate by proxy. See United States v. One Hundred Twenty-Nine Thousand Three Hundred Seventy-Four Dollars, 769 F. 2d 583 (9th Cir.1985); United States v. Forty-Five Thousand Nine Hundred Forty Dollars, 739 F. 2d 792 (2nd Cir.1984). That would be an inaccurate conclusion. An excellent discussion on this very problem is contained in the case of In re Forfeiture of 1983 Wellcraft Scarab, 487 So. 2d 306 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986), authored by Judge Hurley. We agree completely with Wellcraft Scarab.

REVERSED AND REMANDED IN ACCORDANCE HEREWITH.

HERSEY, C.J., and GUNTHER, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (11 total)

  • Doyle Fryer v. State, 732 So. 2d 30 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)
    …if there was no trial evidence to support such a jury verdict and the evidence shows that this lesser offense could not have been committed without also committing the charged offense. State v. Wimberly, 498 So. 2d 929 (Fla.1986); Thompson v. State, 487 So. 2d 311, 312 (Fla. 5th DCA), review denied, 494 So. 2d 1153 (Fla.1986). We find no merit in the state’s harmless error argument. See Macri v. State, 689 So. 2d 1280 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997). REVERSED and REMANDED. COBB and PETERSON, JJ., concur. . The elemen…
  • Boland v. State, 893 So. 2d 683 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005)
    …590 So. 2d at 925 n. 2. When a defendant requests an, instruction on a necessarily lesser included offense, the trial court is obligated to grant the request even if there was no trial evidence to support such a jury verdict. See Thompson v. State, 487 So. 2d 311, 312 (Fla. 5th DCA), rev. denied, 494 So. 2d 1153 (Fla.1986). In contrast, when a defendant requests an instruction on a permissive lesser included offense the trial court is required to grant'the request only if: (a) the accusatory pleading specifi…
  • General Jackson Pride v. State, 511 So. 2d 1068 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)
    …is error for the trial court to refuse to instruct the jury on that offense. Reddick v. State, 394 So. 2d 417 (Fla.1981); Wheat v. State, 433 So. 2d 1290 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Flint v. State, 463 So. 2d 554 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); and Thompson v. State, 487 So. 2d 311 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986). The trial judge has no discretion as to whether to instruct the jury on a necessarily lesser included offense, State v. Wimberly, 498 So. 2d 929 (Fla.1986), even if the evidence at trial is clear and uncontroverted that the robb…

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