CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
MORRIS LANSBURGH AND ROBERT S. GOODMAN, INDIVIDUALLY AND JOINTLY, APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 1969-01-07
No. 68-1081
Before CHARLES CARROLL, C. J., and HENDRY and SWANN, JJ.
217 So. 2d 348 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1969) Positive Treatment
Cited by 7 cases

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Holding

The court denied the city's petition for a constitutional writ to clarify the effect of its supersedeas, finding the city had not made a sufficient showing to justify such relief.


Facts & Procedural History

The City of Miami Beach appealed an interlocutory injunction order that enjoined an enlarged Tourist Development Authority from functioning. The city …

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Opinion of the Court
CHARLES CARROLL, Chief Judge.

CHARLES CARROLL, Chief Judge.

The City of Miami Beach, defendant in a case in the circuit court of Dade County, having appealed from an interlocutory injunction order, with the benefit of an automatic stay as provided for in the case of an appeal by the city from a “judgment, decree or order” under § 59.14 Fla.Stat., F.S.A. and the equivalent Rule 5.12 F.A.R., 32 F.S.A., being uncertain as to the extent of the effect of its supersedeas, and specifically whether it would operate to permit the city, with impunity, to act in contravention of the injunction pending its appeal therefrom, petitioned this court for a constitutional writ to make the supersedeas thus fully effective. Upon hearing argument on the petition, after notice, this court denied the petition by an order filed December 19, 1968, in which order it was stated that an opinion would be filed.

Under enabling provisions of an act of the legislature (Ch. 67-930) the City of Miami Beach imposed a “municipal resort *349tax” on room rentals of places of business designated in the statute, and by ordinance created a five member authority or commission designated “Tourist Development Authority,” herein referred to as the board. Under the statute such a board may be empowered to “contract and be contracted with in its own name as an agency of the city and to administer and expend such portion of the proceeds of said tax as the governing body [of the municipality] may determine.” The act further provides that no ordinance making designated changes in regard to such a board, including “reducing or enlarging the number of members,” will be valid unless approved by a referendum election or unless adopted by a four-fifths vote of the board plus a five-sevenths vote of the council.

Subsequently an ordinance was passed relating to the board, which among other things increased the membership from five to seven, and two members of the original board filed suit in the circuit court against the City of Miami Beach, challenging the validity of the ordinance and seeking to enjoin the enlarged board from functioning. The trial court entered an interlocutory injunction order, from which the city appealed. On consideration of the city’s petition for a constitutional writ we express no view regarding the merits of the cause.

Assuming that a constitutional writ by this court would be necessary to make the supersedeas effective to the point that the city could, with impunity, function through the enlarged seven member board contrary to the injunction during the pendency of the appeal and supersedeas, although the law on that point is not clear,1 the appellant City of Miami Beach has not made a showing here sufficient to justify this court in granting it such relief. See Paramount Enterprises v. Mitchell, 104 Fla. 407, 140 So. 328, 330; Engel v. City of North Miami, Fla.App.1959, 111 So.2d 92, 94.

This is so because in instances where the granting or denial of a super-sedeas is discretionary, usually it is granted where it would operate to maintain the status quo of the property or rights constituting the subject matter of the litigation pending the appeal, but a supersedeas usually is denied where it appears it would permit the status of the subject matter to be changed so as to render subsequent proceedings in the cause ineffectual with reference to the main objects of the suit, or otherwise would result in undue harm or *350irreparable injury. See Hathaway v. Munroe, 97 Fla. 28, 119 So. 149.

In this case, the right of the appellant City of Miami Beach to have a stay of the order appealed from was not a matter of discretion in the trial court, since the city’s appeal operated automatically as a stay, under § 59.14(1) Fla.Stat., F.S.A., which provides that such an appeal shall “stay the execution or performance of the judgment, decree, or order appealed from.” Rule 5.12(1) F.A.R. contains similar language. However, in view of what is said above in the preceding paragraph of this opinion, on consideration of the circumstances of this case we are not inclined to exercise here our jurisdiction to issue an extraordinary writ to expressly authorize the city to act in contravention of the injunction order pending its appeal therefrom.

For these reasons the petition of the City of Miami Beach for a constitutional writ was denied.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Hough v. Stembridge, 278 So. 2d 288 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973)
    …ed a proceeding for the enforcement of the injunction judgment while the supersedeas was in effect, and therefore was improper. Powell v. Florida Land & Improvement Co., 41 Fla. 494, 26 So. 700 (1899); City of Miami Beach v. Lansburgh, Fla.App.1969, 217 So. 2d 348; City of Miami v. City of Coral Gables, Fla.App. 1970, 233 So. 2d 7. The matter with which the rule to show cause was concerned having since been determined by separate litigation, and it appearing that no useful purpose remains for enforcement or…
  • City OF Miami v. City OF Coral Gables, 233 So. 2d 7 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970)
    …since the notice of appeal, having been filed from the final order in case 69-1006, served to stay the beginning of the 45-day period until such time as that appeal had been decided by this court. See City of Miami Beach v. Lansburgh, Fla.App.1969, 217 So. 2d 348; Florida Appellate Rule 5.12, 32 F.S.A. (1967). Therefore, the order finding the City of Miami in contempt is hereby reversed, and the appellant is ordered to begin its compliance with the order of the chancellor when the mandate from this court rea…
  • …’s asserted entitlement, as an agency of a political subdivision of the State, to an automatic stay pending our decision. Fla. App. R. 5.12; Housing Auth. of City of Miami v. Macho, 184 So. 2d 916 (Fla.3d DCA 1966); City of Miami Beach v. Lansburgh, 217 So. 2d 348 (Fla.3d DCA 1969); City of Miami v. City of Coral Gables, 233 So. 2d 7 (Fla.3d DCA 1970). Rule 5.12’s automatic stay for public agencies conflicts with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Section 120.-68(3), and more particularly with the Publi…

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