SILVER STAR CITIZENS' COMMITTEE, MR. KEITH SHAMROCK AND PATRICIA SHAMROCK, HIS WIFE, AND FRED MATHEWS, PRESIDENT, APPELLANTS,
v.
CITY COUNCIL OF ORLANDO, FLORIDA, SEABOARD AIR LINE RAILROAD COMPANY AND EUNICE FAMILY, APPELLEES

Fla. 4th DCA | 1967-02-07
No. 755
WALDEN, C. J., CROSS, J., and WHITE, JOSEPH S., Associate Judge, concur.
194 So. 2d 681 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1967) Negative Treatment
Cited by 12 cases

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Synopsis

Silver Star Citizens' Committee and individual residents appealed the dismissal of their petition for writ of certiorari challenging zoning ordinances adopted by the City Council of Orlando. The court affirmed the dismissal, holding that the petitioners failed to establish standing or any direct interest in the matter, lacking jurisdiction over the subject matter.


Holding

The court held that petitioners failed to establish any right or interest to bring the suit, and therefore the circuit court lacked jurisdiction over the subject matter. The petition was properly dismissed because it did not demonstrate that petitioners were affected, directly or indirectly, by the zoning regulations in question.


Key Quotes

“Jurisdiction over the subject matter of litigation cannot be conferred by consent. Otherwise, the court would soon find itself serving frequently in an advisory capacity to many citizens having only academic interests in questions of law. It is fundamental that courts may not so function.”

Establishes that subject matter jurisdiction is not waivable and that courts cannot hear cases based on academic interests alone

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Facts & Procedural History

Petitioners sought to challenge zoning regulations adopted by the City Council of Orlando affecting a parcel of land recently annexed to the city. The…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from an order dismissing a petition for writ of certiorari presented to the Circuit Court, Ninth Judicial Circuit for Orange County, by which petitioners, appellants here, sought to have reviewed the adoption by the City Council, City of Orlando, of certain zoning regulations affecting a parcel of land recently annexed to the city.

At the outset we find ourselves compelled to treat, more seriously than counsel have treated the matter, a point regarding jurisdiction over the subject matter. The petition presented to the circuit court does not identify either petitioner as having been affected, directly or indirectly, by the acts concerning which complaint is made.

In granting respondents’ motion to dismiss the lower court dealt with the problem thus:

“First question raised regarding said Petition is whether the Petition shows the interest of Petitioners or the right of Petitioners to question the validity of said ordinance. Said Petition does not state whether Petitioners are residents, property owners, voters of the City of Orlando, nor whether they own property adjacent to the property, the subject of the above described ordinance, nor is anything recited about said Petitioners except their names. The Court, therefore, finds that said Petition is defective and should be dismissed.
“The question then arises as to whether said Petition is amendable. Counsel for Petitioners states in his Memorandum, submitted February 21, 1966, that he is making application for a common law i.Writ of Certiorari and is not proceeding under any statute. The Court has some doubt as to whether the ordinance in question can be attacked in this way. However, assuming that the validity of the ordinance can be tested in this way, and further assuming that the Petition for Certiorari is amendable and also assuming that the Petitioners have an interest which authorizes them to bring this proceeding, and the Court makes these assumptions in order to reach the real question involved here, the Court is of the opinion that the Motion to Dismiss must be granted.”

The court proceeded to dismiss the petition on other grounds.

No amendments were filed, and we have no idea, of course, what might have been shown had amendments been filed. We are governed, not by what might be shown, but what is in fact shown by the record now before this court.

The record shows no right of the petitioners to bring the suit. See 39 Am. Jur., Parties, § 10; Brown v. Florida Chautauqua Ass’n, 1910, 59 Fla. 447, 52 So. 802; Town of Surfside v. Skyline Terrace Corp., Fla.App.1960, 120 So.2d 20.

This left the circuit court with lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter. See 20 Am.Jur.2d, Courts, § 105.

Jurisdiction over the subject matter of litigation cannot be conferred by consent. Otherwise, the court would soon find itself serving frequently in an advisory capacity to many citizens having only academic interests in questions of law. It is fundamental that courts may not so function.

*683The fact that the lower court dismissed the petition on other grounds is of no consequence.

Affirmed.

WALDEN, C. J., CROSS, J., and WHITE, JOSEPH S., Associate Judge, concur.


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Cited By

  • Universal Ins. Co. OF N. Am. v. Warfel, 82 So. 3d 47 (Fla. 2012)
    …niversal.” Universal also asserts that because the record was insufficient, the Second District should not have reached the jury instruction. To support this contention, Universal relies on Silver Star Citizens’ Committee v. City Council of Orlando, 194 So. 2d 681, 682 (Fla. 4th DCA 1967), specifically this quotation: “We are governed, not by what might be shown, but what is in fact shown by the record now before this court.” Universal construes this statement to support the “rule” that district courts cannot…
  • …2d 517. . Trustees of Internal Improvement Fund v. Bobean (Fla.1961), 127 So. 2d 98 and Trustees of Internal Improvement Fund v. Claughton (Fla.1956), 86 So. 2d 775. .See, Silver Star Citizen’s Committee v. City Council of Orlando (Fla.App.1967), 194 So. 2d 681 and Guernsey v. Haley (Fla.App.1958), 107 So. 2d 184.…
  • Birdsall Shipping, S.A. v. Gallardo, 390 So. 2d 437 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)
    …pleading or proof before the trial court to show the residency of its co-defendant, Tropical. The burden was upon Birdsall, as the movant, to establish its entitlement to a change of venue. Silver Star Citizens’ Committee v. City Council of Orlando, 194 So. 2d 681 (Fla. 4th DCA 1967); Greene v. Hoiriis, 103 So. 2d 226 (Fla. 3d DCA 1958). Affirmed. . 47.051 Actions against corporations.-Actions against domestic corporations shall be brought only in the county where such corporation has, or usually keeps, an…

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