CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, APPELLANT,
v.
JANIE BELL JONES, APPELLEE
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This case concerns whether a Florida statute authorizing garnishment for alimony and child support payments overrides the general rule that municipalities are immune from garnishment. The court held that the statute does allow garnishment against municipalities.
Yes, Section 61.12 of the Florida Statutes overrides the common law immunity of municipalities from garnishment when the garnishment is to enforce court orders for alimony, suit money, or support.
“So much as the court orders of the money or other things due to any person or public officer, state or county, whether the head of a family residing in this state or not when the money or other thing is due for the personal labor or service of the person or otherwise, is subject to attachment or garnishment to enforce the orders of the courts of this state for alimony, suit money or support, or other orders in actions for divorce or alimony;”
This quote is the text of the statute at issue, Section 61.12, Florida Statutes.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe appellee, Janie Bell Jones, sought to garnish funds owed to her former husband by the City of Jacksonville. The City moved to dissolve the writ of…
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By this interocutory appeal, the City of Jacksonville contends that the trial judge erred in denying its motion to dissolve a writ of garnishment.
The sole point on appeal is: Does Section 61.12, Florida Statutes F.S.A., change the law of Florida which holds that garnishment does not lie against a municipality ?
Section 61.12, Florida Statutes, reads:
“So much as the court orders of the money or other things due to any person or public officer, state or county, whether the head of a family residing in this state or not when the money or other thing is due for the personal labor or service of the person or otherwise, is subject to attachment or garnishment to enforce the orders of the courts of this state for alimony, suit money or support, or other orders in actions for divorce or alimony; * *
The public policy of this state requires that judicial orders providing for payment of child support be enforceable. Otherwise, the children for whose benefit the *260orders are rendered might well become public charges. By the subject enactment, the legislature authorized garnishment against funds owed by the sovereign, i. e., the State of Florida; and having taken this action, it is our construction that the statute intended to remove any immunity from garnishment inuring to the sovereign’s child, i. e., the municipality.
The interlocutory appeal is dismissed.
JOHNSON and SPECTOR, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Bacardi v. White, 463 So. 2d 218 (Fla. 1985)…or money or property growing out of other actions, alimony and support money may have no foundation other than the public policy which requires the husband to pay what he ought to pay_” Id. at 6 (emphasis supplied). In City of Jacksonville v. Jones, 213 So. 2d 259 (Fla. 1st DCA 1968), the district court stated “[t]he public policy of this state requires that judicial orders providing for payment of child support be enforceable.” Id. at 259. We have weighed the competing public policies and, although we reaff…
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City OF Miami v. Spurrier, 320 So. 2d 397 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975)…payment of alimony, child support, and medical payments, her ex-husband’s pension funds are properly the subject of garnishment. As authority for her contention, appellee cites § 61.12 Fla.Stat., F.S.A.; City of Jacksonville v. Jones, Fla.App. 1968, 213 So. 2d 259; and several cases from other jurisdictions. After careful research, we are unable to find any Florida case addressing itself directly to the question raised on this appeal, i. e., are pension benefits provided through the Miami City Municipal Empl…1 / 2
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White v. Bacardi, 446 So. 2d 150 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984)…one but that its conclusion is not in accord with prior authority of this very court. In City of Miami v. Spurrier, 320 So. 2d 397 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975), cert. denied, 334 So. 2d 604 (Fla.1976) we followed the holding of City of Jacksonville v. Jones, 213 So. 2d 259 (Fla. 1st DCA 1968) that Florida’s “public policy” for the enforceability of such orders, as reflected by Sec. 61.12, Fla.Stat. (1981), which provides for garnishment in alimony and support eases, overrides a duly enacted municipal ordinance which o…
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