ROSALIE FINK, APPELLANT,
v.
JACOB P. BLUESTEIN, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1964-12-01
No. 64-201
Before BARKDULL, C. J., and HORTON and HENDRY, JJ.
169 So. 2d 335 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1964) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Holding

The court held that the defendant waived her right to a jury trial by invoking the equitable jurisdiction of the court, thus the trial court correctly denied the motion to transfer.


Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiff sued for rescission or damages from a stock purchase agreement. Defendant counterclaimed seeking a lien on the stock. Defendant moved to tra…

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Opinion of the Court
HENDRY, Judge.

HENDRY, Judge.

Plaintiff instituted suit in equity seeking rescission of a stock purchase agreement with the defendant or in the alternative claiming damages for the defendant’s breach of the agreement. Defendant answered the complaint and counter-claimed seeking, inter alia, the equitable relief of a lien upon the stock.

Defendant moved to dismiss the complaint, or in the alternative, to transfer the cause from equity to the law side of the court because the complaint was not cognizable in equity. Both of these motions were denied, the case proceeded to final hearing, subsequent to which the chancellor awarded plaintiff damages in the amount requested. The defendant appeals assigning as error the lower cpurt’s failure to transfer the cause to the law side, and thereby afford him an opportunity to have a jury, rather than the judge, resolve the factual issues.

The trial court should not defeat a party’s right to jury trial by characterizing as equitable a legal cause of action. By the same token, the jurisdiction of equity may not be divested by the party seeking its assistance.1

The defendant, in her counterclaim, sought to invoke the equitable jurisdiction of the court by the imposition of a lien upon certain stock certificates then claimed to have been in her possession.2 By so doing, she waived her right to object to the jurisdiction of the equity court to assess the plaintiff’s damages.3

Accordingly, the trial court correctly denied the defendant’s motion to transfer the cause from the equity side of the court to the law side. The judgment appealed is affirmed.

Affirmed.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Ramirez v. Hardware Dealers Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 170 So. 2d 317 (Fla. 3d DCA 1964)
    …tates Constitution. We reject this contention of the appellee for two reasons. First, it instituted the chancery proceedings and, second, once equity takes jurisdiction it will dispose of an entire ■controversy. See: Fink v. Bluestein, Fla.App.1964, 169 So. 2d 335 (opinion filed December 1, 1964); 12 Fla.Jur., Equity, § 43, and cases cited thereunder. Therefore, for the reasons above expressed, the order here under review is reversed with directions to permit the appellant to file an amended answer and/or «c…

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