WAKULLA-SILVER SPRINGS COMPANY, A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
SAM W. SMITH, ET AL., INDIVIDUALLY AND AS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF WAKULLA COUNTY, FLORIDA, AND WAKULLA COUNTY, A BODY POLITIC OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1970-07-21
No. N-200
CARROLL, DONALD K., Acting C. J., and RAWLS, and WIGGINTON, JJ., concur.
249 So. 2d 738 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1970) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

Wakulla-Silver Springs Company appealed the trial court's denial of a temporary injunction to prevent Wakulla County from taking possession of and interfering with a strip of land that the company claimed to own. The court upheld the denial, finding the trial judge did not abuse discretion in determining there was a genuine dispute over whether the road in question had become a public road through long public use.


Holding

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the temporary injunction. Although the company established prima facie ownership of the land, the court properly recognized there was a genuine justiciable controversy regarding whether the road had become a public road through twenty years of public use, and such disputed factual issues warranted denial of the injunction.


Headnotes

[1] An appellate court will not interfere with a trial court's discretion in granting or denying an injunction unless an abuse of discretion is clearly shown or the ruling is…

[2] A prima facie case for injunctive relief may be established by proving ownership of the disputed property and presenting evidence that the opposing party has not acquired…

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Key Quotes

“The discretion of the chancellor as to whether he should grant or continue an injunction is well recognized. An appellate court will not interfere with the exercise of this judicial discretion unless abuse thereof is clearly made to appear, or unless the chancellor's ruling is clearly against the weight of the evidence.”

Establishes the standard of review for appellate courts reviewing trial court decisions on injunctive relief—abuse of discretion must be clearly shown.

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Facts & Procedural History

Wakulla-Silver Springs Company owned a strip of land traversed by a road. The company sought to prevent Wakulla County commissioners from taking posse…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff seeks review by interlocutory appeal of an order denying its prayer for a temporary injunction to restrain defendants from taking possession of or attempting to take possession of a certain described strip of land, and from cutting timber, bulldozing the land, using the same for a road, or in any manner interfering with the use and occupation thereof by plaintiff. It is contended that the trial court abused its discretion by arbitrarily denying plaintiff’s prayer for a temporary injunction contrary to the evidence adduced at the hearing before the court.

At the hearing on appellant’s application for injunction appellant proved a prima fa-cie case entitling it to the relief prayed for by establishing ownership of the land traversed by the road in question and adducing evidence tending to show that the road had never been acquired by defendant county either by purchase, gift, eminent domain, public user, or prescription. In opposition to plaintiff’s position, however, defendants adduced evidence tending to prove that the road in question had been in existence for a period of more than twenty years during which the public used it as a public road between two important communities of the *739county. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court announced:

“ * * * I think there is a very clear justiciable, debatable issue here as to whether or not this is a public road. It has been and is entitled to be kept open and that’s a matter that does involve, as counsel has mentioned, a good many things. It’s not just that there was a road but there can be other things involved in it. The evidence does indicate that this was part of what was one time a very well recognized public road between two well established communities between Arran and Wakulla and that there has been some use of it. I don’t think it has been established conclusively by any means that this has been or that this continues to be and was at the time of the things complained of, a public road, but I think there’s enough here to show that there is a real justiciable controversy. * * * ”

Our examination of the record discloses competent and substantial evidence supporting the trial judge’s findings and the order based thereon. This court’s function at the interlocutory stage of this case has been established by the decisional law of Florida as follows:

“The discretion of the chancellor as to whether he should grant or continue an injunction is well recognized. An appellate court will not interfere with the exercise of this judicial discretion unless abuse thereof is clearly made to appear, or unless the chancellor’s ruling is clearly against the weight of the evidence.” 1

The remaining points presented by appellant have been considered but are not sufficient to justify a reversal of the order here reviewed. Interlocutory appeal dismissed.

CARROLL, DONALD K., Acting C. J., and RAWLS, and WIGGINTON, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Nw. Nat'l Ins. Co. v. Greenspun, 330 So. 2d 561 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976)
    …cretion of the trial court and that it will be reversed upon interlocutory appeal only when it has no basis in the pleadings and evidence before the trial court or is illegal in its nature. See Wakulla-Silver Springs Company v. Smith, Fla.App. 1970, 249 So. 2d 738, and authorities noted thereat. We hold that upon this record it does not appear in this instance that the injunction is either without basis or is illegal in its nature. We, therefore, affirm that portion of the order which denied appellant’s motio…

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