THE STATE OF FLORIDA, PETITIONER,
v.
HARRIS LEVESON, JR., RESPONDENT
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The Florida Supreme Court remanded a case to the District Court of Appeal because the appellate judgment reversing a gambling conviction lacked a majority opinion supporting the reversal. The Court held that when an appellate court reverses a trial court conviction, it must issue a majority opinion to guide the trial court on remand and establish binding precedent.
A reversal of a trial court conviction must be supported by a majority opinion. When an appellate court reverses but lacks a majority opinion, the Supreme Court will remand to the appellate court to prepare and adopt a majority opinion clarifying the theory and reasoning for the reversal.
“We have previously indicated the view that a decision of an appellate court reversing a trial court should be supported by a majority opinion for the guidance of the trial court upon remand.”
Establishes the core holding that appellate reversals must have majority opinions to guide trial courts
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceLeveson was convicted of operating a gambling room and related offenses. A trial judge admitted evidence obtained from a search of an apartment pursua…
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We are requested to review a decision of the District Court of Appeal, Third District, on the ground that it conflicts with prior decisions of this Court and another Court of Appeal on the same point of law.
Once again we are confronted by a judgment of a District Court reversing a trial court but lacking a majority opinion to support the judgment.
The decision submitted for review is Leveson v. State, Fla.App., 138 So.2d 361. Leveson was convicted of operating a gambling room and related offenses. The trial judge allowed into evidence, over objections, certain articles obtained as the result of a search of an apartment pursuant to a search warrant. The District Court held that the affidavit supporting the search warrant was fatally defective and hence the evidence was inadmissible. In .order to reach this point, however, the District Court was called upon to pass on the question of Leveson’s standing to raise the objections to the alleged unreasonable search.
This problem produced three separate opinions. Judge Hendry held that the rule of Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697, is now controlling in Florida. This led him to conclude that any person legally on the premises searched can question the validity of the search. Judge Carroll was of the view that it was unnecessary to apply the 'rule of Jones because in his opinion Lev-eson occupied the premises as a lessee and, therefore, had a sufficient interest to question the search under the long-established Florida rule. This view, however, led Judge Carroll to concur in the judgment of reversal, although he was impelled to do so for reasons different from those announced by Judge Hendry. Judge Pearson dissented from the judgment completely and would have affirmed the conviction.
The resultant situation is obvious. The judgment of conviction has been reversed but there-is no majority opinion on the vital element of the standing of the accused to raise the question of the validity of the search. One judge holds that he has standing under Jones v. United States, supra, because he was legally on the premises. Another judge does not reach the Jones rule but simply holds that the accused has standing under the Florida Rule because *526he considers him to be a lessee. On remand the trial judge could not with assurance follow either opinion. In the future other trial courts would be lacking in any conclusive precedent to guide them.
We have previously indicated the view that a decision of an appellate court reversing a trial court should be supported by a majority opinion for the guidance of the trial court upon remand. The rule, of course, does not apply where a trial court is affirmed because the necessity for guidance upon remand is not there present. Rosenthal v. Scott, Fla., 131 So.2d 480; Solomon v. Sanitarians’ Registration Board et al., Fla., 147 So.2d 132, 1962.
As a consequence of the situation presented by the instant record we cannot reach the merits of the problem presented to us. There is no majority opinion which we can examine to determine presence or absence of jurisdiction here. As we did in the cases last cited, we will restore this case to the jurisdiction of the District Court of Appeal to enable the judges of that court to take such action as they deem appropriate in order to clarify the situation which has been presented to us. Rosenthal v. Scott, supra; Solomon v. Sanitarians’ Registration Board, supra. See also, Scott v. Rosenthal, Fla.App., 132 So. 2d 347.
Request is respectfully made to the District Court of Appeal, Third District, that it prepare and adopt a majority opinion setting forth the theory and reasoning upon which the majority bases its judgment of reversal in the subject case. In doing so that Court may thereby clarify the majority view and eliminate the apparent ambiguities produced by the separate views of the majority judges. Jurisdiction of the cause is temporarily relinquished to the District Court of Appeal, Third District, for that purpose. When this has been accomplished, the cause shall be re-■urned to this Court which will then proceed to determine whether sufficient conflict of decision exists so as to require further review here.
It is so ordered.
ROBERTS, C. J., and TERRELL, O’CONNELL and CALDWELL, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Carter v. State, 199 So. 2d 324 (Fla. 2d DCA 1967)…e thereon. It has been uniformly held that these constitutional and statutory provisions regulating use of search warrants must be strictly construed. State ex rel. Wilson v. Quigg, 1944, 154 Fla. 348, 17 So. 2d 697; Leveson v. State, Fla.App.1962, 147 So. 2d 524. The statutory provisions must be rigidly followed and cannot in any case be extended or enlarged beyond the permissive provisions; as for example, only state court judges specifically mentioned in F.S. Section 933.01, F.S.A., supra, which excludes…
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State v. Harris Leveson, Jr., 151 So. 2d 283 (Fla. 1963)…t of Appeal, Third District. We requested that, if possible, the Judges reconcile their somewhat divergent views and adopt a majority opinion reflecting the basis upon which the judgment of the trial court was being reversed. State v. Leveson, Fla., 147 So. 2d 524. When the cause .was returned to the District Court the Judges of that Court made a diligent and earnest effort to arrive at a majority accord. Because of the differences between them conscientiously held, they have found it impossible to arrive at…
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The Shakespeare Found., Inc. v. Jackson, 61 So. 3d 1194 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011)…9) (holding no majority opinion existed from which review could be taken where second judge concurred in result only with written opinion, and third judge concurred in part and dissented in part from written opinion). See generally State v. Leveson, 147 So. 2d 524 (Fla.1962) (explaining district court judgment reversing trial court should be supported by a majority opinion for trial court’s guidance on remand). Thus, we decline to discuss that judgment in our analysis. Federal Arbitration Act Is Not Applicab…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257 (U.S. 1960)
- Murray Rosenthal and Joseph Rosenthal v. Scott, 131 So. 2d 480 (Fla. 1961)
- Harris Leveson, Jr. v. State, 138 So. 2d 361 (Fla. 3d DCA 1962)
- Solomon v. Sanitarians' Registration Bd., 147 So. 2d 132 (Fla. 1962)
- Azar v. Dade Cnty., 132 So. 2d 347 (Fla. 3d DCA 1961)
- Katz v. Roslyn Katz, 132 So. 2d 347 (Fla. 3d DCA 1961)