CITY OF ORLANDO, APPELLANT,
v.
ORANGE COUNTY, A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEES
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.
The City of Orlando appealed the trial court's denial of its motion to dismiss Orange County's complaint seeking to enjoin the city from exercising jurisdiction over three annexed unincorporated islands. The Fourth District Court of Appeal held that quo warranto is the exclusive remedy for challenging municipal boundary changes, and therefore reversed and remanded with directions to dismiss the complaint.
Quo warranto is the only proper form of action available in Florida to invalidate or change municipal boundaries. An action for injunction or declaratory judgment cannot serve the purpose of ousting land from municipal corporate limits, and therefore the complaint must be dismissed without prejudice to allow the proper remedy.
[1] The exclusive remedy to challenge municipal boundaries and oust land from a municipality's corporate limits is an action in quo warranto.
[2] An injunction or declaratory judgment action is an improper procedural vehicle to invalidate or change municipal boundaries.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“There is but one form of action available in Florida to invalidate or change municipal boundaries and that is by quo warranto.”
Establishes the court's holding that quo warranto is the exclusive remedy for challenging municipal boundaries
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe City of Orlando passed three ordinances annexing three unincorporated islands. Orange County sued seeking injunctive and declaratory relief, alleg…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Municipal Boundaries cases and more on FLexlaw
DOWNEY, Judge.
Appellee, Orange County, sued the appellant, City of Orlando, praying for an in-junctive and declaratory relief arising out of the passage of three city ordinances whereby the City of Orlando purported to annex three unincorporated islands. Essentially, the complaint charged that the city had not complied with the requirements of the special act authorizing the annexation; that no municipal benefits were available; and that it was not in the best interests of the city nor the island residents to be incorporated into the city. Appellee’s complaint prayed that the city be enjoined from exercising municipal jurisdiction, services, or control over the property.' Thus, it is apparent that the effect of the relief sought is to oust the three islands from the corporate limits of the city.
The trial court granted appellant’s motion to dismiss that aspect of the complaint which sought relief as a class suit, but it denied the motion as to the injunctive and declaratory relief. In our judgment the failure to dismiss the entire complaint was error. There is but one form of action available in Florida to invalidate or change municipal boundaries and that is by quo warranto. Caldwell v. Losche, Fla.App. 1959, 108 So. 2d 295, involved a suit by a property owner to enjoin the City of Ta-yares from exercising jurisdiction over his land which he maintained was improperly included in the corporate boundary. The court noted the theory and purpose of the suit was to have the plaintiff’s land excluded from the municipal limits of the town. Regarding the form of the action the court stated:
“The rule is generally recognized and has long been established in Florida jurisprudence that the proper method of seeking relief where a municipality has undertaken to exercise jurisdiction or control over land should be through a quo warranto proceeding. City of South Miami v. State, 1939, 140 Fla. 740, 192 So. 624; State ex rel. Harrington v. City of Pompano, 1938, 136 Fla. 730, 188 So. 610, 615; and 74 C.J.S. Quo Warranto § 4, p. 181, and § 13, p. 196.”
The question arises why an action for injunction or for declaratory judgment might not serve appellee’s purpose. The reason why appellee must seek relief by means of a quo warranto action is not rigid adherence to archaic forms of pleading, but rather the effect of one form of action relative to another. To begin with, under appellee’s present complaint for injunction the action would be tried by the court. However, if this action is brought under an information for quo warranto, either party might invoke the right to have factual issues tried by a jury. See cases cited at 27 Fla.Jur., Quo Warranto, § 51. Further, in the Caldwell case, supra, the court pointed out:
“The purpose' of the appellee is to have his parcel of land ousted from the municipal boundaries of the Town of Tavares so that the town cannot assert any jurisdiction over it. However, the result accomplished by an injunction decree restraining taxation of lands by a municipality does not alter the boundary lines of the municipality but prevents taxation of the lands while they receive no actual or potential benefit by being included within the boundary limits of the municipality. Riviera Club v. City of Ormond, 1941, 147 Fla. 401, 2 So. 2d 721.”
In fairness we should point out that appellee is not without authority for utilizing the form of action chosen here. In Smith v. Ayres, Fla.1965, 174 So. 2d 727, the Supreme Court decided a somewhat similar case based upon a complaint for injunction. And in Town of Mangonia Park v. Homan, Fla.App.1960, 118 So. 2d 585, the Second District Court of Appeal acted similarly. There is no accounting for those decisions except that the question under consideration was never raised nor decided. In this case the appellant raised it below, it has raised it here, and we have decided it.
Accordingly, the interlocutory order appealed from is reversed, and the cause remanded with directions to dismiss the complaint without prejudice.
OWEN, C. J., and CROSS, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Florida House OF Representatives v. The Honorable Charles J. Crist, Jr., 999 So. 2d 601 (Fla. 2008)…327 So. 2d 7 (Fla.1976), the district court decision reviewed by this Court on the basis of express and direct conflict involved a challenge by Orange County to the annexation of property by the City of Orlando. See City of Orlando v. Orange County, 309 So. 2d 16 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975). The Fourth District expressly noted that ”[t]he proper method of seeking relief where a municipality has undertaken to exercise jurisdiction or control over land should be through a quo warranto proceeding.” Id. at 16-17 (quotin…
-
Orange Cnty. v. City OF Orlando, 327 So. 2d 7 (Fla. 1976)…OVERTON, Justice. This cause is before us on petition for writ of certiorari to review the deci [*8] sion of the Fourth District Court of Appeal reported at 309 So. 2d 16 (Fla.App. 4th 1975). The decision appears to conflict with Smith v. Ayres, 174 So. 2d 727 (Fla.1965), and does conflict with Town of Mangonia Park v. Homan, 118 So. 2d 585 (Fla.App.2d 1960), although it is in accordance with Caldwell v. Losche, 108…
-
SCA Servs. OF Fla., Inc. v. City OF Tallahassee, 418 So. 2d 1148 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)…unctive and declaratory relief. Id. at 8. We find that case inapplicable for two reasons: First, the case involved a challenge to three annexation ordinances passed pursuant to the requirements of a special act. See City of Orlando v. Orange County, 309 So. 2d 16 at 16 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975). Second, the facts suggest that the case involved annexations occurring prior to the October 1, 1974 effective date of the “Municipal Annexation or Contraction Act,” Chapter 171, Florida Statutes. See Ch. 74-190, § 3, Laws…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- State v. City of Pompano, 136 Fla. 730 (Fla. 1938)
- City of S. Miami v. State ex rel. Cary D. Landis, 140 Fla. 740 (Fla. 1939)
- Town OF Mangonia Park v. Homan, 118 So. 2d 585 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960)
- Denton v. Atl. & St. Andrews Bay Ry. Co., 141 Fla. 153 (Fla. 1939)
- The Riviera Club v. The City of Ormond, 147 Fla. 401 (Fla. 1941)
- Caldwell v. Losche, 108 So. 2d 295 (Fla. 2d DCA 1959)
- Smith v. Ayres, 174 So. 2d 727 (Fla. 1965)