STATE OF FLORIDA, EX REL. THE OLUSTEE MONUMENT COMMISSION, RELATOR,
v.
ERNEST AMOS, AS COMPTROLLER, OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The Florida Supreme Court denied a mandamus petition filed by The Olustee Monument Commission seeking to compel the State Comptroller to audit and pay an account for work performed at the Olustee Monument site. The Court held that the Commission lacked legal status and that even if it had paid state indebtedness as a volunteer, mandamus could not be invoked to compel the State to reimburse it.
Mandamus cannot be invoked to compel the State to pay an indebtedness voluntarily assumed by an entity without legal status. The Olustee Monument Commission lacks legal entity status because the bill purporting to create it is inoperative and violates the Florida Constitution by attempting to confer executive or administrative powers on state legislators.
“Even if the asserted relator has any legal status whatever and it has volunteered to pay an indebtedness of the State of Florida, it does not appear that mandamus may be invoked to compel a payment by the State to such volunteer.”
Establishes that mandamus cannot be used to compel state reimbursement for voluntarily assumed obligations, regardless of the relator's status.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Olustee Monument Commission petitioned for mandamus to require the State Comptroller to audit an account and issue a warrant for payment. The rela…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Alternative Writ Of Mandamus cases and more on FLexlaw
Per Curiam.
In a petition for an alternative writ of mandamus filed in this court seeking to require the State Comptroller to audit an account against the State, and to issue a warrant in favor of the relator for any amount found to be due, it is alleged that the “relator officially-paid to Charles Fleming the sum of fifteen dollars for; work actually done and performed by him in putting in order and maintaining in proper condition and beautifying the grounds adjacent and belonging to the site of the Olustee Monument.”
Even if the asserted relator has any legal status whatever and it has volunteered to pay an indebtedness of the State of Florida, it does not appear that mandamus may be invoked to compel a payment by the State to such volunteer. “The Olustee Monument Commission” is not shown to be a legal entity. If reference may be had to an uncer tifiecl paper attached to the petition alleged to be a bill passed by the legislature of the State that it is alleged became a law because it was not duly filed in the office of the Secretary of State by the Governor with, his objections thereto within the time required by the constitution to make an executive veto effective, it appears that if the title to the bill is not fatally defective, the bill if duly enacted for a law,'is inoperative to give the relator a legal entity, since it purports to create “The Olustee Monument Commission” to be composed of three persons, two of whom are “the State Senator who shall represent Columbia County, and the State Senator who shall represent Baker County and their successors in office,” upon which attempted commission the bill purports to confer executive or administrative official powers and duties, in violation of Article II and Sections 5 and 27 of Article ITT, Section 15, Article XVI of the State Constitution.
The petition is denied.
Browne, C. J., and Taylor, Whitfield, Ellis, and West, J. J., concur.