ST. ANNE AIRWAYS, INC., A DELAWARE CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
LOIS J. WEBB, APPELLEE; JAHAZIAH SHAW WEBB, III, A/K/A JOHN S. WEBB, APPELLANT, V. LOIS J. WEBB, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1962-06-12
Nos. 62-130, 62-131
Before HORTON, CARROLL and HENDRY, JJ.
142 So. 2d 142 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1962) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

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Holding

The court held that a party's property and contract rights cannot be abrogated in a suit where the party has not been joined, served, or given an opportunity to be heard, as this violates due process.


Facts & Procedural History

A wife sued her nonresident husband for alimony and attempted service by publication. Separately, the court ordered a third-party corporation (St. Ann…

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Opinion of the Court
CARROLL, Judge.

CARROLL, Judge.

These interlocutory appeals were consolidated for briefing and argument. Lois J. Webb sued her nonresident husband for alimony unconnected with causes of divorce under § 65.10, Fla.Stat., F.S.A. By an amended complaint the wife sought alimony, custody of a child of the parties and exclusive use of their home. Service on the nonresident husband was attempted to be made by publication. He responded with a motion challenging jurisdiction over the subject matter,1 but did not challenge jurisdiction over him for want of personal service in this state. The motion included grounds going to the merits. The court denied the motion and ruled it to be a general appearance. The addition of grounds on the merits was not the reason for rejecting the motion. A ground attacking jurisdiction over the person, had it been set forth in the motion, would have survived inclusion of the grounds contained therein relating to the merits (rule 1.11(b), F.R. C.P., 30 F.S.A.). On the record presented, the chancellor was eminently correct in entering the order appealed from in No. 62-131.

The separate appeal by St. Anne Airways, Inc. (No. 62-130) has merit. Without that corporation having been made a party to the suit, the plaintiff filed a motion in which it was stated that she was its secretary; that it had leased an airplane to Zantop Air Transport, Inc., a corporation of Detroit, Michigan; that the lessee corporation paid the lessor corporation monthly rental of $2,000 for the aircraft, plus $3.50 for each hour flown on the “airframe time”; that St. Anne corporation received such rent at an address in Princeton, Florida; that plaintiff had notified the lessee corporation in Michigan to make future such rent payments to her as the secretary in care of her attorney in Miami; that it was necessary to impound the monies from the lease because the husband would not submit himself to jurisdiction of the court in Florida; and she moved for an order “directing” the lease money to be paid to her attorney. The chancellor granted that motion. Zan-top Air Transport, Inc. (a foreign corporation not within the jurisdiction, and not a party to the case) was mandatorily enjoined to pay into the registry of the court the rental payments on the aircraft which, under the lease, were payable to the St. Anne corporation. Cf. Alger v. Peters, Fla.1956, 88 So.2d 903. In an effort to put itself into a position to be heard, St. Anne Airways, Inc. tried to enter the suit. Its petition to intervene was denied, as was its petition submitted therewith to vacate the rent deposit order. In the latter petition St. Anne asserted want of jurisdiction over it and the Zantop corporation and the interference with its contract rights. The order denying the corporation’s petition to vacate also set aside a transfer of title to an aircraft made by the St. Anne corporation to a third person not joined as a party. It was error to deny the petition to intervene, and the motion to vacate the rental payment order should have been granted. Rule 3.4, F.R.C.P. 31 F.S.A., relating to intervention, provides: “Anyone claiming an interest in pending litigation may at any time be permitted to assert his right by intervention, * * *.” Here the money and the contract rights of the appellant corporation were made the subject matter of the suit by orders of the court. To take a cor*144poration’s money and abrogate its contract rights in a suit in which the corporation has not been joined, served and given an opportunity to be heard, amounts to a taking without due process of law in violation of constitutional guarantees. That proposition is established beyond the need for citation of the extensive authorities so holding. See 6 Fla.Jur., Constitutional Law § 322. If plaintiff’s application for such relief is renewed the appellant corporation first should be joined and served, or at the least allowed to intervene. The order appealed from in case No. 62-130 denying the petition to intervene and petition to set aside the order impounding the rents is reversed, and the cause is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent herewith.

Affirmed in appeal No. 62-131. Reversed and remanded as to appeal No. 62-130.


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Citator

Cited By

  • McKELVEY v. McKELVEY, 323 So. 2d 651 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976)
    …cited. The motion for protective order filed by Mr. Brigham was in effect a motion to dismiss for, inter alia, failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, a ground going to the merits. See St. Anne Airways, Inc. v. Webb, Fla.App.1962, 142 So. 2d 142 at 143; Green v. Roth, Fla.App. 1966, 192 So. 2d 537 at 540; Stavang v. American Potash and Chemical Corporation, 344 F. 2d 117 (5th Cir. 1965). Hence, we find the trial judge was correct in determining the court had obtained in per-sonam jurisdicti…
  • Green v. Roth, 192 So. 2d 537 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966)
    ….” Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, referred to in the Stavang case, cited in Judge Smith’s Order, has its counterpart in Rule 1.11 of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, 30 F.S.A. See St. Anne Airways, Inc. v. Webb, Fla.App.1962, 142 So. 2d 142. The “Order on Motions” brought here by interlocutory appeal is hereby affirmed. Affirmed. SHANNON, Acting C. J., and DAY-' TON, ORVIL L., Jr., Associate Judge, concur. . Huffman v. Heagy, 122 So. 2d 335; Fla.App.1960. Paulson v. Faas, 171 So. 2…
  • Coyne v. Coyne, 325 So. 2d 407 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976)
    …supra. And, pursuant to the following Florida authorities, we hold that counsel’s appearance for the appellant in California constituted a general appearance. Green v. Hood, Fla.App.1960, 120 So. 2d 223; St. Anne Airways, Inc. v. Webb, Fla.App.1962, 142 So. 2d 142. Further, it appears that the actions of the appellant, through her counsel, in California constituted a general appearance under the reasoning of the following California authorities: Farmers & Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles v. Superior Cou…

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