STATE EX REL. FRED H. DAVIS, ATT'Y. GEN'L., ET AL.
v.
TOWN OF GULFPORT

Fla. | 1933-07-07
Whitfield, Ellis, Terrell, Brown and Buford, J. J., concur.
111 Fla. 331 Florida Supreme Court (1933) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 149 So. 381
Cited by 1 case

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Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court quashed a writ of certiorari in a quo warranto case challenging the Town of Gulfport's territorial jurisdiction. The case became moot when the Florida Legislature enacted legislation on June 12, 1933, that excluded the disputed territory from the town's corporate limits, rendering judicial review unnecessary.


Holding

The writ of certiorari should be quashed because the case has become moot. The Legislature's enactment of House Bill No. 1515, which excluded the disputed territory from the Town of Gulfport's limits, rendered judicial review unnecessary, as any court order could not restore municipal jurisdiction without invalidating the legislative act, which was not challenged.


Key Quotes

“the Legislature of Florida at its regular session of 1933 enacted into law House Bill No. 1515, which by its terms became effective on becoming a law without the approval of the Governor on the 12th day of June, 1933, which legislative Act excluded from the territorial limits of the Town of Gulfport the identical lands and property involved in this suit”

Establishes the moot point that intervening legislation resolved the territorial dispute

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Facts & Procedural History

An information in quo warranto was filed in circuit court to test the legality of certain territory's inclusion in the Town of Gulfport's corporate li…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

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Opinion of the Court
Buford, J.

Buford, J.

This case is before us on motion to quash a writ of certiorari heretofore issued.

An information in the nature of quo warranto was filed in the circuit court, to which pleadings were filed, the purpose of which was to test the legality of the inclusion of certain territory in the corporate limits of the Town of Gulfport and to oust the municipality from exercising municipal authority over that territory.

Judgment was in favor of petitioners and writ of ouster was issued. Writ of error was attempted to have been taken from this Court to the judgment.

The writ of error was made returnable ninety-three (93) days after date thereof and was dismissed. Later the petition was filed here and a writ of certiorari was issued.

The motion to quash presents several justiciable questions, but the controlling matter presented is that the Legislature of Florida at its regular session of 1933 enacted into law House Bill No. 1515, which by its terms became effective on becoming a law without the approval of the Governor on the 12th day of June, 1933, which legislative Act excluded from the territorial limits of the Town of Gulfport the identical lands and property involved in this suit. The question of the right of the Town of Gulfport to exercise municipal authority over the territory involved has therefore become moot and no order or judgment of this Court in this case could now restore to the municipality jurisdiction over this territory without holding the legislative Act above referred to invalid. Its validity is not challenged here.

For the reasons stated, the motion to quash the writ should be granted. It is so ordered.

*333Certiorari quashed.

Whitfield, Ellis, Terrell, Brown and Buford, J. J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Goodall v. Whispering Woods Ctr., L.L.C., 990 So. 2d 695 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008)
    …omputing items of a bid to argue that a “negligence” or “reasonable care of diligence” standard applied to preclude relief. However, we choose to follow a case more factually similar to this one, Continental Cas. Co. v. City of Ocala, 111 Fla. 209, 149 So. 381 (1933). Like this case, Continental Casualty involved a reformation action; the case concerned the plaintiffs failure to read a bond. The Court questioned whether the plaintiff there was “guilty of such gross negligence as precluded it from invoking…

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