STATE OF FLORIDA EX REL. ROBERT L. SHEVIN, ATTORNEY GENERAL, RELATOR,
v.
JOHN S. RAWLS, AS CHIEF JUDGE, ET AL., RESPONDENTS

Fla. | 1974-02-13
No. 44639
CARLTON, C. J., and ADKINS, BOYD and McCAIN, JJ., concur.
290 So. 2d 477 Florida Supreme Court (1974) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 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

The Florida Supreme Court denied a writ of prohibition sought by the State to prevent the First District Court of Appeal from hearing criminal appeals, holding that timely notices of appeal filed in the Second District Court of Appeal due to improper state advice should be treated as valid notices in the First District, where jurisdiction properly rested.


Holding

The Court held that the First District Court of Appeal properly has jurisdiction over the appeals, and that timely notices of appeal filed in good faith in the Second District Court of Appeal, albeit improvidently invoking that court's jurisdiction, should be treated as valid notices of appeal in the First District, where the trial court was located.


Headnotes

[1] A court may grant a motion to amend a rule nisi to make a party to the rule when that party's right to appellate review is at stake.

[2] A notice of appeal filed in good faith in the wrong appellate district, due to incorrect advice, may be treated as a timely notice of appeal in the correct appellate dist…

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Key Quotes

“Clearly the timely filing of notices of appeal to the 2nd DCA was done in good faith. The jurisdiction of the 2nd DCA was improvidently invoked within the meaning of F.A.R. 2.1(a)(5)(d).”

Establishes that despite improper filing, the defendants acted in good faith and the procedural rule authorized transfer to the proper court.

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Facts & Procedural History

Defendants Resnick and Hicks were indicted for murder in Lake County, obtained a change of venue to St. Johns County where they were convicted and sen…

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Opinion of the Court
DEKLE, Justice.

DEKLE, Justice.

We have for consideration a suggestion for writ of prohibition directed to the Judges of the First District Court of Appeal, the State contending that such court was without jurisdiction over the attempted appeals from the criminal convictions of defendants below, Resnick and Hicks. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla.Const., F.S.A. Defendants were indicted for murder in Lake County (in the second appellate district), obtained a change of venue to St. Johns County (in the first appellate district), where they were convicted, sentenced and judgment was entered. The state attorney advised them of their right to appeal “to the 2nd DCA.” The case was then transferred back to Lake County, where notices of appeal to the 2nd DCA were filed. The 2nd DCA held that its jurisdiction was improvidently invoked, and accordingly transferred the appeals to the 1st DCA under F.A.R. 2.1(a)(5)(d), 32 F. S.A.1 The State moved to quash the appeals for lack of jurisdiction, asserting that notice of appeal must be filed in the lower court which entered judgment, here the Circuit Court for St. Johns County. The motion was denied, suggestion for writ of prohibition filed here, and our rule nisi issued.

Hicks has moved to amend our rule nisi to make him a party to the rule, urging that his right to appellate review is at stake. This motion is granted, and our rule nisi is so amended. Department of Public Safety v. Koonce, 147 Fla. 616, 3 So. 2d 331 (1941).

Both defendants have moved to transfer the causes to the 2nd DCA in the event that we hold the jurisdiction of the 1st DCA to have been improvidently invoked, citing F.A.R. 2.1(a)(5)(d). That rule is inapplicable to the present situation, authorizing transfer only by the court whose jurisdiction has been improvidently invoked. While applicable to the 2nd DCA in this action, it is not applicable to this Court under the present circumstances. Accordingly, these motions are denied here.

Both defendants have also moved to have us consider their appeals as proceedings in the nature of petitions for habeas corpus if appellants have lost their rights of appeal. Inasmuch as we hereafter determine that the right of appeal has not been lost, the motions are denied as being moot.

In reply to our rule nisi, respondents assert that the 1st DCA has jurisdiction over the appeals in that the trial took place in the first appellate district, and that the notices of appeal improvidently invoked the jurisdiction of the 2nd DCA, which transferred the cause pursuant to F.A.R. 2.1(a)(5)(d); alternatively, they assert, if appellants have lost their right of appeal due to the State’s action in advising them to appeal to the 2nd DCA, they are entitled to review in the nature of a writ of habeas corpus.

Clearly the timely filing of notices of appeal to the 2nd DCA was .done in good faith. The jurisdiction of the 2nd DCA was improvidently invoked within the meaning of F.A.R. 2.1(a)(5)(d). Bauk-night v. Sloan & Co., 17 Fla. 281 (1879); University Federal Savings & Loan Assoc, v. Lightbourn, 201 So. 2d 568 (Fla.App. 4th 1967). Accordingly, the 2nd DCA acted properly in transferring the causes to the 1st DCA, where jurisdiction of these appeals properly rests.

All contentions herein are met by treating, as we do, the filing of appeals in the 2nd District inadvertently and upon improper advices to defendants, as timely notices of appeal in the 1st District, where the appeals properly lie, and,' treated accordingly, the appeals are proper to be heard in the 1st District and writ of prohibition is

Denied.

CARLTON, C. J., and ADKINS, BOYD and McCAIN, JJ., concur. . 274 So. 2d 589.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • …77). . State ex rel. Florida Department of Natural Resources v. District Court of Appeal, Second District, 355 So. 2d 772 (Fla. filed February 16, 1978). . State ex rel. Shevin v. Rawls, 326 So. 2d 173 (Fla.1976). . State ex rel. Shevin v. Rawls, 290 So. 2d 477 (Fla.1974). . English v. McCrary, note 6, above. . State ex rel. Harris v. McCauley, 297 So. 2d 825 (Fla.1974). . State ex rel. Jennings v. Frederick, 137 Fla. 773, 189 So. 1 (1939). . Sup.Ct. Case No. 48,637, 360 So. 2d 745, Opinion filed March…
  • Raymond v. Wieneke, 479 So. 2d 752 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)
    …ntly invoked in Second District, notwithstanding lower court’s retransfer of file to circuit within the latter district; appeal transferred to First District under former Florida Appellate Rule 2.1(a)(5)(d)), approved, State ex rel. Shevin v. Rawls, 290 So. 2d 477 (Fla.1974). . A close examination of the “transfers” in Lightbourn and Rose reveals that they are illusory. The Fourth District had determined, that the trial court’s post-change of venue actions were nullities. There was, therefore, nothing for th…
  • Miami-Dade Water & Sewer Auth. v. Cormio, 388 So. 2d 1238 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979)
    …Y, having carefully placed its courts in geographic territories and geographically logical relationships with each other, expects its courts to act where they are placed and in those judicial relationships exclusively. State ex rel Shevin v. Rawls, 290 So. 2d 477 (Fla.1974); University Fed. Sav. and Loan Ass’n v. Lightbourn, 201 So. 2d 568 (Fla. 4th DCA 1967). But Article V is without knowledge of whether these workers’ compensation awards “occurred” at all, let alone where they occurred, nor how or where ap…

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