A. J. CUMMINGS AND SADIE BELK CUMMINGS, HIS WIFE, ET AL., PETITIONERS,
v.
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, RESPONDENT
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The Florida Supreme Court reviewed whether a trial court had authority to enter a judgment for interest on an attorney's fee award after an appeal had been decided. The Court held that while there was no conflict between the District Court's decision and prior precedent, a trial court lacks authority to enter new judgments in a cause after appellate affirmance other than to carry out the appellate mandate.
A trial court lacks authority to enter a second judgment in a cause after appellate affirmance other than to carry out the appellate mandate. The proper method to enforce such a judgment against a city is by petition for writ of mandamus, not by additional judgment entered by the trial court.
[1] After an appellate court affirms a judgment, the trial court may only carry out the mandate of the appellate court and cannot take further action in the cause.
[2] A writ of mandamus is the proper procedure to enforce a judgment against a municipality.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“After the appeal of a judgment and its affirmance by an appellate court, the trial court is without authority to take any further action in the cause other than to carry out the mandate of the appellate court.”
Establishes the core holding that trial courts lose jurisdiction over a cause once an appellate decision is affirmed.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA judgment for attorney's fees was entered in favor of property owners against the City of Miami Beach in an eminent domain proceeding. The City appea…
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By petition for certiorari, we have for review a decision of the District Court of appeal, Third District (City of Miami Beach v. Cummings, 251 So.2d 715), which allegedly conflicts with a decision of the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (Coggan v. Coggan, 183 So.2d 839) on the same point of law. Fla.Const., art. V, § 4, F.S.A.
The facts are stated by the District Court of Appeal, as follows:
“Essentially the point raised is one of procedure. It arose in the following manner: (1) A judgment for attorney’s fees supplemental to a proceeding in eminent domain was entered in favor of the appellees against the City. (2) The City appealed judgment without supersedeas bond. (3) The judgment was affirmed. (4) Appellees demanded interest on the judgment from the date of the judgment to the proposed payment thereof. (5) Appellant tendered the amount of the judgment and the payment was accepted. (6) Appellees filed in the completed eminent domain proceeding a motion ‘to determine liability of petitioner for interest on judgment for attorney’s fees and costs.’ (7) The ‘motion to determine’ was heard over the objection of the City that the procedure was improper. (8) The trial judge entered an additional judgment in the cause for the amount of interest that he determined was due on the original judgment for attorney’s fees.” (Emphasis supplied) (City of Miami Beach v. Cummings, 251 So.2d 715, p. 716.)
The District Court of Appeal then held as follows:
“We hold that the trial judge was without authority to enter a second judgment in the cause upon appellees’ motion ‘to determine liability.’ After the appeal of a judgment and its affirmance by an appellate court, the trial court is without authority to take any further action in the cause other than to carry out the mandate of the appellate court.” (p. 716)
The District Court of Appeal then pointed out that the proper method of enforcing a judgment against a City is by a petition for writ of mandamus.
Coggan v. Coggan, supra, involved an award of attorneys’ fees in divorce proceeding. After the order allowing attorneys’ fees was entered, a subsequent judgment was entered against defendant for interest on the attorneys’ fees. Fla.Stat. § 55.03, F.S.A., provides that all judgments bear interest at the rate of six per cent per annum. In discussing this statute, the District Court of Appeal in Coggan v. Coggan, supra, said:
“Since the chancellor had already entered a decree awarding attorneys’ fees, *573it automatically carried interest at six per cent per annum and his subsequent order to that effect was mere surplusage. ... in substance the order is nothing more than a declaration that statutory interest on the original award had accumulated to that date in the sum mentioned. As it is substance and not form that controls, the order does not constitute an independent judgment which would bear the statutory interest.” (183 So.2d p. 841)
The District Court of Appeal in the case sub judice merely held that a subsequent judgment for interest was improper and referred to Peacock v. State ex rel. American Mortgage & Finance Corporation, 122 Fla. 25, 164 So. 680 (1935), which held that a petition for writ of mandamus may be employed to enforce a judgment against a City.
The question of whether interest on attorneys’ fees should be allowed is not before us, nor are we confronted with the problem of accord and satisfaction. See 1 C.J. S. Accord and Satisfaction § 29a (3).
The District Court of Appeal in the case sub judice was confronted with a procedural problem and there is no conflict between its decision and that of the Coggan v. Cog-gan decision, supra.
Nor is there any conflict between the decision of the District Court of Appeal in the case sub judice and our recent decision in Roberts v. Askew, Fla., 260 So.2d 492, opinion filed March 29, 1972, where we held that costs may be adjudicated after final judgment, after the expiration of the appeal period, during the pendency of an appeal, and even after the appeal has been concluded.
There being no conflict, the writ of cer-tiorari previously issued is hereby discharged.
It is so ordered.
ROBERTS, C. J., and ERVIN, BOYD and McCAIN, JJ., concur.
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Murphy v. Murphy, 378 So. 2d 27 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)…ank of Jacksonville, N.A., 338 So. 2d 888 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976). At the time the motion was filed below, the wife was entitled to execution as a matter of right. See City of Miami Beach v. Cummings, 251 So. 2d 715 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971), cert. discharged, 263 So. 2d 571 (Fla.1972); King v. L & L Investors, Inc., 136 So. 2d 671 (Fla. 3d DCA 1962); Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.550(a). For these reasons, the order under review is reversed and the cause remanded with directions to grant the motion to order execution on the judgment…
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Scharf v. Smith, 498 So. 2d 686 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)…ontrary to the ruling below, no “change of circumstance” or ground for relief under Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.540 was required. See Hoover v. Scott, 44 So. 2d 657 (Fla.1950); City of Miami Beach v. Cummings, 251 So. 2d 715 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971), cert. discharged, 263 So. 2d 571 (Fla.1972). The application, like the 1982 order it sought to amend,3 was instead merely one to enforce and effectuate the rights of the appellant as established by the original final judgment of dissolution. Hoover v. Scott, 44 So. 2d 657; Coggan v…
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Ira J. Sands v. Granoff, 508 So. 2d 543 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)…gated to enforce its final judgment and that is exactly what it did in the order under review. See Scharf v. Smith, 498 So. 2d 686, 687 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986); City of Miami Beach v. Cummings, 251 So. 2d 715, 716-17 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971), cert. discharged, 263 So. 2d 571 (Fla.1972); Superior Uniforms, Inc. v. Brown, 221 So. 2d 214, 215 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969). We have not overlooked the remaining points urged by the defendant, but find that none merit a reversal. See Hannah v. James A. Ryder Corp., 380 So. 2d 507, 510…
Authorities Cited
- Roberts v. Reubin O'D. Askew, 260 So. 2d 492 (Fla. 1972)
- Gatto v. Baron Props., Inc., 183 So. 2d 839 (Fla. 4th DCA 1966)
- Coggan v. Coggan, 183 So. 2d 839 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966)
- Malloy v. State, 251 So. 2d 715 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971)
- Peacock v. State, 122 Fla. 25 (Fla. 1935)