ELSA F. BETTS AND HUGH S. BETTS, APPELLANTS,
v.
EVA N. FOWELIN, APPELLEE
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.
An appeal time is not extended by an amended judgment that merely corrects a clerical or formal error, as opposed to a material change in substance.
A verdict was entered for plaintiff, but the final judgment contained a minor clerical error in the amount. Plaintiff obtained a corrected final judgm…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Appeal Period cases and more on FLexlaw
UPON MOTION TO DISMISS
This cause is presented to us upon a motion to dismiss defendants’ appeal.
A brief chronology of the case reveals that a verdict was entered in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $63,660. Yet the final judgment entered was for $63,600. Defendants’ motion for a directed verdict or for a new trial was denied on July 20, 1967.
Pursuant to an oral motion by plaintiff, a “corrected final judgment” was entered July 27,1967, which had the effect of changing the amount to $63,660, thereby conforming to the verdict.
Notice of appeal was filed on September 22, 1967, untimely with respect to the original judgment, but within 60 days of entry of the “corrected final judgment.”
Plaintiff moved to dismiss the appeal urging that it is untimely. She contends that the time for appealing the original judgment is not extended by entry of an amended judgment which merely corrects a clerical error.
Florida apparently follows the majority rule that, where a judgment is amended in a material respect, the appeal time runs from the date of the amendment.1 We have found no Florida case, however, which dealt with the effect of an amended final judgment which changed the original judgment in only a minor, formal matter.
In other jurisdictions a distinction is generally recognized where the amendment relates only to the correction of a clerical or formal error.2 In such cases the time for *632appeal runs not from the date of amendment, but from the date of the original judgment.
The test as enunciated in the Minneapolis-Honeywell case, supra note 2, is, we believe, a sound one.
“ * * * Thus, the mere fact that a judgment previously entered has been reentered or revised in an immaterial way does not toll the time within which review must be sought. Only when the lower Court changes matters of substance, or resolves a genuine ambiguity, in a judgment previously rendered should the period within which an appeal must be taken or a petition for certiorari filed begin to run anew. The test is a practical one. The question is whether the lower court, in its second order, has disturbed or revised legal rights and obligations which, by its prior judgment had been plainly and properly settled with finality.” 3
The Supreme Court of New Jersey, in City of Newark v. Fischer,4 held an amendment of a certificate of taxation by a county board of taxation from $79,200 to the correct figure of $77,200 did not extend the time for appeal because:
“ * * * The making of such a correction for the purpose of having the figures in the judgment comply with the actual assessment did not materially change the judgment nor did it involve any exercise of discretion. The substance of the corrected judgment was exactly the same as the original judgment; the rights or status of the parties were not changed by it.” 5
In the case at hand, the corrected final judgment merely changed the amount of the final judgment from $63,600 to $63,660. Only a clerical error was corrected. The assignments of error were not directed to this $60 item but, instead, alleged trial errors leading to the original judgment.
Thus, the corrected final judgment, as in City of Newark v. Fischer, supra note 4, “did not materially change the judgment nor did it involve any exercise of discretion.” Under such circumstances, the time for appeal was not extended by the second judgment, and since the notice of appeal was not timely with respect to the original judgment, plaintiff’s motion to dismiss this appeal is hereby granted.
Granted.
CROSS and REED, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (11 total)
-
ST. Moritz Hotel v. Jimmy C. Daughtry & the Fla. Indus. Comm'n, 249 So. 2d 27 (Fla. 1971)…cond order made a substantive change in the original order would be immaterial if petitioner did not challenge the second order, but was concerned only with alleged errors in the first order. This appears to have been the result in Betts v. Fowelin, 203 So. 2d 630 (Fla.App.4th, 1967).…
-
DeGALE v. Krongold, 773 So. 2d 630 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000)…extended the time to appeal. Florida follows the majority rule that, where a judgment is amended in a material respect, the appeal time runs from the date of the amendment, provided the amendment is material, not minor or formal. Betts v. Fowelin, 203 So. 2d 630, [*632] 631 (Fla. 4th DCA 1967); see also St. Moritz Hotel v. Daughtry, 249 So. 2d 27 (Fla.1971). To determine if the amendment materially changes the original judgment and order, we look to St. Moritz, where the Florida Supreme Court stated the app…
-
Wilder v. Wilder, 251 So. 2d 311 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971)…le of what we conceive to be the type of clerical mistake correctable at anytime under Rule 1.540(a), R.C.P. For another example, see the reference to the corrected final judgment discussed in this court’s opinion in Betts v. Fowelin, Fla. App.1967, 203 So. 2d 630. Having concluded that the mistake or inadvertence described cannot be classified as mere clerical error, it follows that appellee’s right to relief was not under sub-paragraph (a) of Rule 1.540, R.C.P. but under subparagraph (b) which limited ap-p…
Previewing 3 of 11 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Fed. Trade Comm'n v. Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co., 344 U.S. 206 (U.S. 1952)
- Zimmern v. United States, 298 U.S. 167 (U.S. 1936)
- De Bowes v. De Bowes, 7 So. 2d 4 (Fla. 1942)