W. B. WEDNER ET AL., APPELLANTS,
v.
ESCAMBIA CHEMICAL CORPORATION ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1958-05-08
No. A-37
STURGIS, C. J., concurs,
102 So. 2d 631 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1958) Positive Treatment
Cited by 14 cases

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.

Synopsis

This case involves an appeal from an order dismissing a complaint that sought to invalidate the closure of a public road and its conveyance to a chemical company. The court affirmed the dismissal, holding that the plaintiffs, as members of the general public, lacked standing to sue because they did not suffer a special injury distinct from the community at large.


Holding

No, the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the action. To maintain a private suit for obstruction of a public way, a party must demonstrate a special injury differing in kind, not just degree, from that sustained by the community. The plaintiffs' allegations showed their grievances were common to the entire community.


Key Quotes

“In order to maintain such a suit it must be shown that the party seeking relief has suffered some special injury, differing not only in degree, but in kind from that sustained by the community at large.”

Establishes the requirement for standing in cases involving public nuisances like road obstruction.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiffs, residents of an unincorporated community, alleged that the county commissioners' closure of a public road and conveyance to a chemical com…

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.


Opinion of the Court
WIGGINTON, Judge.

WIGGINTON, Judge.

This is an appeal from an order entered by the Circuit Court of Santa Rosa County dismissing plaintiffs’ amended complaint against the appellees herein.

*632Plaintiffs sought a decree holding the action of the Santa Rosa County Board of Commissioners in closing a section of a public road and conveying title thereto to the defendant chemical company as the abutting owner, to be void and without effect. They further sought to enjoin and restrain the defendant chemical company from obstructing the closed section of the public road, and from further interfering with the free use thereof by plaintiffs and the general public. The amended complaint, consisting of some sixteen pages, contained allegations purporting to show that plaintiffs constitute most of the citizens and residents of the unincorporated community of Mulat in Santa Rosa County. It is further alleged that by closing the road in question defendants have deprived plaintiffs of one of only two means in ingress and egress to their homes; that being thus restricted to the use of the only remaining road, the inhabitants of Mulat are required to travel from four to eight miles greater distance to reach surrounding communities, markets and places of employment than was necessary when using the road now closed; that the action of the defendant Board was for the sole benefit and gain of the defendant chemical company and was, therefore, arbitrary and constituted an abuse of discretion; and that the plaintiffs’ efforts in seeking assistance of their State Attorney, the Attorney General and the State Road Department were unsuccessful. There was no allegations that any of the plaintiffs’ properties abut that portion of the road which was abandoned, nor that any of their properties was directly affected or injured thereby. It is alleged, however, that the matters and things complained of were “common to every resident” of the affected community.

Upon considering the complaint herein, and after hearing the parties on defendant’s motion to dismiss, the chancellor concluded that plaintiffs were not proper parties to bring, this action and the cause was dismissed. This appeal ensued.

The únauthorized obstruction of a public way is a common or public nuisance. It is not in itself ground upon which to maintain a private suit for injuries occasioned thereby. In order to maintain such a suit it must be shown that the party seeking relief has suffered some special injury, differing not only in degree, but in kind from that sustained by the community at large.1 No such showing has been made here. On the contrary plaintiffs’ complaint clearly asserts that all matters therein complained of were experienced in common by the entire community. The plaintiffs are therefore necessarily restricted to their right of redress, if such is appropriate, by some authorized official action brought on behalf of the public.2

The chancellor recognized that the applicable law accords a wide latitude of discretion to the boards of county commissioners of this state in matters concerning the abandonment of public roads;3 and that such discretion will not be disturbed, absent a clear abuse thereof or the invasion of property rights.4 The allegations of their complaint having been insufficient to show appropriate grounds for the relief sought, the chancellor properly rejected plaintiffs’ plea that the court substitute its judgment for that of the Board *633in the instant case. Having thus determined that the abandonment and obstruction here under attack flowed from and accorded with a proper exercise of lawful authority, it follows that such cannot be subjected to abatement as a nuisance, public or private.5 Therefore, plaintiffs cannot be heard to complain that the authorized public representative declined to assist in the attainment of a right which in fact and in law did not exist.

Finding no error in the order appealed from the same must be and is hereby affirmed.

STURGIS, C. J., concurs,

CARROLL, DONALD, Judge

(specially ■concurring).

I concur that the order appealed from should be affirmed for the reasons stated in the latter portion of the majority opinion, but I cannot agree that the Chancellor was right in holding that the plaintiffs are not the proper parties to bring the suit. The •amended complaint alleges that the plaintiffs, eighty-one in number, constitute the large majority of the landowners and residents of the Mulat, Florida, area, a small community on Escambia Bay, about five or six miles southwest of Milton, Florida; that for many decades the road in question has run from the Mulat community northwesterly to connect with U. S. Highway 90, the connecting highway between Milton and Pensacola, in Escambia County, Florida; that many of the plaintiffs work in Pensacola and/or Escambia County and it was necessary for them daily to travel upon such road in order to get to their work; that the plaintiffs have invested many thousands of dollars in their homes and other properties in the Mulat community, and that their values will be diminished by the closing of the road. The Florida Supreme Court held in Brown v. Florida Chautauqua Association, 59 Fla. 447, 52 So. 802, 803: “Any person whose property rights are specially injured by an unlawful obstruction in a public highway may have the aid of a court of equity in removing the obstruction when the remedy at law is inadequate.” I think that the required special injury has been shown here. I do not think it is realistic or correct to say that the plaintiffs here are improper parties for failing to show some special injury differing in kind from that sustained by the community at large, especially where, as here, the eighty-one plaintiffs constitute the large majority of the residents and landowners of the community.

Concurrence
CARROLL, DONALD, Judge

CARROLL, DONALD, Judge

(specially concurring).

I concur that the order appealed from should be affirmed for the reasons stated in the latter portion of the majority opinion, but I cannot agree that the Chancellor was right in holding that the plaintiffs are not the proper parties to bring the suit. The •amended complaint alleges that the plaintiffs, eighty-one in number, constitute the large majority of the landowners and residents of the Mulat, Florida, area, a small community on Escambia Bay, about five or six miles southwest of Milton, Florida; that for many decades the road in question has run from the Mulat community northwesterly to connect with U.

S. Highway 90, the connecting highway between Milton and Pensacola, in Escambia County, Florida; that many of the plaintiffs work in Pensacola and/or Escambia County and it was necessary for them daily to travel upon such road in order to get to their work; that the plaintiffs have invested many thousands of dollars in their homes and other properties in the Mulat community, and that their values will be diminished by the closing of the road. The Florida Supreme Court held in Brown v. Florida Chautauqua Association, 59 Fla. 447, 52 So. 802, 803: “Any person whose property rights are specially injured by an unlawful obstruction in a public highway may have the aid of a court of equity in removing the obstruction when the remedy at law is inadequate.” I think that the required special injury has been shown here. I do not think it is realistic or correct to say that the plaintiffs here are improper parties for failing to show some special injury differing in kind from that sustained by the community at large, especially where, as here, the eighty-one plaintiffs constitute the large majority of the residents and landowners of the community.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Linning v. Bd. OF Cnty. Comm'rs OF Duval Cnty., 176 So. 2d 350 (Fla. 1st DCA 1965)
    …gly affirmed. STURGIS, C. J., and RAWLS, J., concur. . F.S. §§ 336.09, 336.10, F.S.A. . Brooks-Garrison Hotel Corp. et al. v. Sara Inv. Co. et al., (Fla.1952) 61 So. 2d 913. . Wedmer et al. v. Escambia Chemical Corporation et al., (Fla.App.1958) 102 So. 2d 631. . Dan Dee Corporation v. Samuels, (Fla.App.1960) 124 So. 2d 733. . Daugherty v. Latham, 128 Fla. 271, 174 So. 417.…
  • SUN OIL Co. v. Gerstein, 206 So. 2d 439 (Fla. 3d DCA 1968)
    …turbed in the absence of a clear abuse thereof or unless there occurs an invasion of property rights. Central and Southern Florida Flood Con. Dist. v. Scott, Fla.App.1964, [*441] 169 So. 2d 368; Wedner v. Escambia Chemical Corporation, Fla.App.1958, 102 So. 2d 631. Generally, no person has a vested right in the maintenance of a public highway in any particular place. Central and Southern Florida Flood Con. Dist. v. Scott, supra; Jahoda v. State Road Department, Fla.App.1958, 106 So. 2d 870, 871. It is true, a…
  • Cent. & S. Fla. Flood Control Dist. v. Scott, 169 So. 2d 368 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964)
    …to state roads and to the Board of County Commissioners as to county roads and such discretion will not be disturbed in the absence of a clear abuse thereof or the invasion of property rights. Wedner v. Escambia Chemical Corporation, Fla.App. 1958, 102 So. 2d 631; Miller v. Martin County, Fla.App.1963, 151 So. 2d 290. The complaint contains no statement of facts and the plaintiffs have cited no rules of law to support their various conclusions that the actions of the defendants were illegal or unauthorized.…

Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw