CITY OF BRADENTON
v.
PAUL FUSILLO

Fla. | 1938-10-31
Ellis, C. J., and Terrell, J., concur., Whitfield, P. J., and Brown and Chatman, j. J., concur in the opinion and judgment.
134 Fla. 759 Florida Supreme Court (1938) Caution
Also reported at: 184 So. 234
Cited by 6 cases

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.

Synopsis

This case concerns whether a municipality can be subject to execution on a money judgment for defaulted bonds, or if payment can only be compelled by mandamus. The court held that execution is permissible, as statutory provisions regarding tax levies do not limit enforcement methods and later acts cannot impair prior bond obligations.


Holding

The court held that the statutory language regarding mandamus does not limit enforcement to that method and that execution can issue on the judgment. Later statutes impairing the right to execution on prior bond obligations are ineffectual.


Key Quotes

“It is too well settled to admit of question at this time that all the laws which subsist at the time and place of the making of a contract and where it is to be performed, enter into and become a part of the contract made as if they were expressly referred to and incorporated under its terms, including alike those laws which affect its construction, validity, enforcement or discharge.”

Establishes the principle that existing laws are part of a contract, which is crucial for determining the enforceability of bonds issued before later statutes.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Paul Fusillo, a holder of several defaulted Bradenton refunding and improvement bonds, sued the City of Bradenton. The City defaulted, and a final jud…

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.


Opinion of the Court
Buford, J.

Buford, J.

Paul Fusillo, the holder of a certain Bradenton refunding bond issued March 1, 1-930, which matured March 1, 1934, and which was in. default and on which no part of the interest had been.paid'since March 1,1,935, and *761the holder of City of Bradenton improvement bonds issued November 1, 1926, due and payable November 1, 1935, and on which interest was in default and holder of Bradenton improvement bonds dated January 2, 1926, and payable January 2, 1936, and upon which interest was in default, and holder of Bradenton Sanitary Sewer bond dated February 1, 1925, upon which interest was in default, and due and payable February 1, 1935, filed suit in the Circuit Court against the City of Bradenton.

The City was served with process and suffered default to be taken and subsequent thereto, on the 19th day of May, 1938, final judgment to be entered.

The final judgment contained the following language:

“Ordered and adjudged by the Court that the plaintiff, Paul Fusillo, do have-and recover of and from the defendant, City of Bradenton, a municipal corporation, the sum of $13,581.06 together with his costs in this behalf laid out and expended and now taxed at $9.95 for all of which let execution issue.
“Done and ordered at Bradenton, Florida, this 19th day of May, A. D. 1938.”

To this judgment the defendant City took writ of error, the sole contention being that the Court was without power to include in the judgment the order “for all of which let execution issue.”

It is too well settled to admit of question at this time that all the laws which subsist at the time and place of the making of a contract and where it is to be performed, enter into and become a part of the contract made as if they were expressly referred to and incorporated under its terms, including alike those laws which affect its construction, validity, enforcement or discharge.” See Commissioners of Columbia County v. King, 13 Fla. 457; Humphreys v. State, ex rel. Palm Beach County, 108 Fla. 92, 145 Sou. 858; *762State, ex rel. Select Tenures, Inc., v. Raulerson, Clerk, 129 Fla. 346, 176 Sou. 270; State, ex rel. Van Ingen, v. City of Panama City, 126 Fla. 776, 171 Sou. 760.

The plaintiff in error contends that the provisions of Section 32 of Chapter 9692, Special Acts of 1923, the same being the Charter Act of the City, is the controlling statutory provision in regard to the collection of judgments entered against the City. The pertinent part of that section provides:

“For ordinary purposes the rate of taxation shall not exceed Ten (10) mills on the dollar. A special tax shall'be levied to create a sinking fund for the payment of the City’s bonded indebtedness and the interest thereon, or for the discharge of any judgment obtained against the City, the payment of which may be compelled by Mandamus.”

It is the contention of plaintiff in error that the words “the payment of which may be compelled by Mandamus” limits the method by which a judgment creditor may enforce the payment of his judgment, and that, therefore, the plaintiff in the court below is not entitled to have a judgment fpr execution to issue. This contention is upon the iheory that the word “may” as used in the statute means ‘'shall.”

We cannot agree with this contention.

The language used in the statute as above quoted only reaffirmed that which the law already provided and did not purport to limit the method by which payment could be enforced to proceedings in Mandamus.

The purpose of Section 32, Chapter 9692, supra, was not to limit the proceedings under which the payment of bonds could be enforced and collected to Mandamus, but was for the purpose of limiting and prescribing the powers and duties of the City in the matter of levying taxes.

The provision, “A special tax shall be levied to create a sinking fund for the payment of the city’s' bonded indebted*763ness and the interest thereon or for the discharge of any judgment obtained against the City, the payment of which may be compelled by Mandamus,” means only that a special tax shall be levied for the discharge of any judgment obtained against the City, the payment of which may be compelled by Mandamus. In other words, the language, “the payment of which may be compelled by Mandamus,” is merely descriptive of the sort pf judgment for the payment of which a special tax shall be levied.

Section 1 of Chapter 17125, Acts of 1935, which reads as follows: “No money judgment or decree against a municipal corporation shall be a lien upon its property nor shall any fieri facias or any writ in the nature of a fieri facias based upon any such judgment be issued or levied,” can have no effect upon the rights' of the plaintiff in the court below because that Act was passed long subsequent to the issuance of the bonds and is ineffectual to limit the force and effect on a judgment against the issuing authority based upon bonds issued prior to that enactment.

In an unbroken line of decisions this Court has held that a Municipality’s property unconnected with any public function may be sold under execution and that execution may be ordered to issue upon judgment rendered against a municipal corporation. See City of Coral Gables v. Hepkins, 107 Fla. 778, 144 Sou. 385, and cases there cited. See also Sanford v. Dofnos Corporation, et al., 115 Fla. 795, 156 Sou. 142.

For the reasons stated, the judgment is affirmed.

So ordered.

Ellis, C. J., and Terrell, J., concur.

Whitfield, P. J., and Brown and Chatman, j. J., concur in the opinion and judgment.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Shavers v. Duval Cnty., 73 So. 2d 684 (Fla. 1954)
    …s if they were expressly referred to or actually copied or incorporated therein. Humphreys v. State ex rel. Palm Beach Co., 108 Fla. 92, 145 So. 858; State ex rel. Select Tenures v. Raulerson, 129 Fla. 346, 176 So. 270; City of Bradenton v. Fusillo, 134 Fla. 759, 184 So. 234; Bedell v. Lassiter, 143 Fla. 43, 196 So. 699; Ivey v. State, 147 Fla. 635, 3 So. 2d 345; State v. City of Pensacola, Fla., 40 So. 2d 569; 12 Am.Jur., Contracts, Sec. 240, p. 769. The Constitutions of the United States and the State of…
  • Agustus T. Ashton v. Town of Lantana, 146 Fla. 671 (Fla. 1941)
    …ter’s deed issued, the lands would then have been immediately subject to plaintiff’s execution. See City of Coral Gables v. Hepkins, 107 Fla. 778, 144 Sou. 385; Sanford v. Dofnos Corporation, et al., 115 Fla. 795, 156 Sou. 142; Bradenton v. Fusillo, 134 Fla. 759, 184 Sou. 234. Under the conditions stated, it was the duty of the master to apply for confirmation of the sale and upon such order of confirmation being made to execute deed conveying legal title to defendant. As the matter stands, the beneficial…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw