O. L. STUART AND L. E. STRAUSS, CO-PARTNERS DOING BUSINESS UNDER THE FIRM NAME OF STUART & STRAUSS, PLAINTIFFS IN ERROR,
v.
IDA M. BUTTS, DEFENDANT IN ERROR
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Stuart & Strauss obtained a default judgment against Butts in 1918, but the trial court vacated and set aside that judgment within the statutory period, allowing the defendant further time to plead. The Supreme Court of Florida dismissed the writ of error because the vacating order was not a final judgment from which a writ of error could be taken.
A writ of error may not be taken from an order vacating and setting aside a default judgment. Such an order is not a final judgment but merely opens up the case for further proceedings, and writs of error lie only from final judgments.
“The Court may, for good cause shown upon any default for want of appearance or plea, set aside such default, and allow the defendant to demur or plead within a period of time to be fixed by the said court; but the application therefor must be made within sixty days from the time of the entry of such default, unless a term of the court shall in the meantime be held, when such application must be made during such term.”
Establishes the statutory authority under which the trial court vacated the default judgment
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePlaintiffs filed suit against defendant in Manatee County Circuit Court on May 27, 1916. After the trial court overruled defendant's demurrer to the f…
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West, J.
— This is an action at law with ancillary attachment brought in the Circuit Court for Manatee County on the 27th day of May, 1916.
After various proceedings were taken in the case the .trial court overruled a demurrer of defendant to the first count and made certain other orders with respect to the remainder of the declaration. No further pleadings were filed in the case and the clerk of the court, upon praecipe of the attorney for plaintiffs, on the 7th day df January, 1918, entered a default judgment against the defendant. Thereafter, on the 24th day of January, 1918, upon praecipe of counsel and affidavits and proofs filed therewith, a final judgment was entered against the defendant and in favor of the plaintiffs.^
Onthe 19th day of February, 1918, a motion with affidavits and proofs was made and filed by the attorney for the defendant to vacate and set aside the default and final judgment. And thereafter, on the 2nd day of March, 1918, this motion was granted and said default and final judgment were thereby vacated and set aside and defendant was given further time in which to plead.
At the time this order was made the court, upon the motion of defendant filed on November 28, 1917, incorporated into it an order directing that certain information therein requested by the defendant be supplied by plaintiffs within a given time. Three days later this part of the order was amended by the court, but in particulars not necessary to be mentioned here. The writ of error is from the order of the court vacating and setting aside the default and final judgment, and from the order amendatory thereto.
The court’s order was an exercise of power conferred under the provisions of Section 1424, General Statutes of 1906, idem Florida Compiled Laws, which reads as follows: “The Court may, for good cause shown upon any default for want of appearance or plea, set aside such default, and allow the defendant to demur or plead within a period of time to be fixed by the said court; but the application therefor must be made within sixty days from the time of the entry of such default, unless a term of the court shall in the meantime be held, when such application must be made during such term.”
The time intervening from January 21, 1918, the date of the entry of the judgment which was set aside, to March 2, 1918, the date of the order setting it aside, is within the statutory period.
The difficulty in this case, however, is that the writ of error is not taken from a final judgment. It is expressly provided by statute “that writs of error shall lie oniy from final judgments.” An order of a circuit judge vacating and setting aside a default and final judgment and allowing the defendant further time in which to plead simply opens up the case for further proceedings and is not a final judgment from which writ of error may be taken.
This being true, the writ of error must be dismissed.
Browne, C. J., and Taylor, Whitfield and Ellis, J. J., concur.
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Milton Land & Inv. Co. v. Our Home Life Ins. Co., 81 Fla. 227 (Fla. 1921)…ame is hereby, vacated and execution and all proceedings for the enforcement of said judgment stayed.” A writ of error was taken by the plaintiff below to the order above quoted vacating the judgment on grounds that it is void. In Stuart v. Butts, 78 Fla. 657, 83 South. Rep. 606, it was held that “an order of a Circuit Judge, vacating and setting aside a default and final judgment and allowing the defendant further time in which to plead, simply opens up the case for further proceedings, and is not' a 'f…
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Bus. Finders, Inc. v. Winston, 123 So. 2d 50 (Fla. 3d DCA 1960)…PER CURIAM. A notice of appeal was filed by the defendant, Business Finders, Inc., directed to an order permitting the opening of a default judgment upon stated conditions. Such an order is not appealable. Stuart v. Butts, 78 Fla. 657, 83 So. 606. The court has, pursuant to § 59.45, Fla.Stat, F.S.A., considered the appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari. A review of the record, in the light of the briefs and oral argument, reveals that the trial court has proceeded so that…