HORN
v.
HORN
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The Florida Supreme Court vacated orders entered by the trial court after notice of appeal was filed requiring the appellant to pay temporary counsel fees and to post a bond as a condition of perfecting his appeal. The court held that once jurisdiction transfers to the appellate court upon filing a notice of appeal, the trial court lacks power to impose new conditions on the right to appeal.
The trial court lacked power to enter the orders requiring counsel fees and conditioning the appeal on posting a bond. Once a notice of appeal transfers jurisdiction to the appellate court, the trial court's jurisdiction becomes exclusive in the appellate court and the trial court may not take further action except to enforce the previously entered decree. The right to appeal is not conditioned on posting a supersedeas bond; posting a bond is appellant's privilege, not a requirement.
“Jurisdiction having become vested in this Court upon the recording of the notice of appeal in the lower Court, the jurisdiction of this Court thereupon became exclusive, and the lower Court was wholly without power to take any further action in the cause except, in absence of supersedeas, to enforce the decree which had been previously entered and which constituted the basis for the appeal.”
Establishes the core principle that trial court jurisdiction ceases upon filing notice of appeal to the appellate court.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGeorge Horn was granted a divorce judgment requiring him to pay his former wife $15 weekly alimony and specified attorneys' fees and costs. After Horn…
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DREW, Justice.
A final decree of divorce was entered by the Circuit Court of Dade County, on February 8, 1954, granting a divorce to Alma Horn and requiring the defendant, George Horn, to pay his former wife $15 a week alimony and a, specified sum as attorneys fees and other costs. Within the time allowed by law, George Horn filed a notice of appeal in the Circuit Court of Dade County.
After the notice of appeal was filed, the lower Court entered an order requiring the appellant, George Horn, to pay the appel-lee wife’s attorneys $1,000 as temporary counsel fees and costs “needed by the plaintiff to protect and defend her rights upon the appeal brought by the defendant herein.” Subsequent to the entry of the above order, another order was entered by the lower Court at the request of the wife adjudging the said George Horn in contempt of Court for failure to pay accumulated alimony payments and other costs which had accrued under the final decree but further providing that the appeal which had been taken should operate as a super-sedeas upon the defendant filing a bond in the sum of $1,000, “conditioned to pay the plaintiff all awards hereinbefore made, in the event the decree so appealed from shall be affirmed or the appeal dismissed.” Further in this same order, the Court below decreed “that in order that the final decree of this Court and this Order be enforced and the rights of the plaintiff and the minor daughter of the parties be preserved and protected, this Court, upon its own motion, does herewith order that the defendant shall comply with the terms and provisions of the aforesaid final decree and this order before proceeding and perfecting his appeal to the Supreme Court of Florida in this cause.”
The filing of the notice of appeal from the final decree transferred jurisdiction of the parties and of the subject matter to this Court. Holland v. State, 15 Fla. 549. Jurisdiction having become vested in this Court upon the recording of the notice of appeal in the lower Court, the jurisdiction of this Court thereupon became exclusive, and the lower Court was wholly without power to take any further action in the cause except, in absence of supersedeas, to enforce the decree which had been previously entered and which constituted the basis for the appeal. See State ex rel. Shrader v. Phillips, 32 Fla. 403, 13 So. 920. For these reasons, therefore, it is quite clear that the Court was wholly without power to enter the order requiring the payment of counsel fees and< costs in connection with the appeal. If necessity existed for such temporary counsel fees, the proper forum, under numerous precedents, is in this Court.
Rule 35 of this Court, 30 F.S.A., and Section 59.13, F.S.1951, F.S.A., provide that every appeal taken to this Court shall operate as a stay or supersedeas upon the conditions set forth in varying circumstances under the rule and statute. Subsection (d) of the rule provides that “if the judgment is in whole or in part other than a money judgment, the amount and condition of the bond shall be determined by the court” and the elements to be considered are therein set forth. Subsection 59.13 (5), supra, is in accord with the rule. Inherent in the rule and the statute is that the posting of a proper supersedeas bond is a right vested in appellant.
If appellant determines to appeal without posting a supersedeas bond, it is his privilege to do so; but, at the same time, the lower Court has the power to enforce such decree as has then been entered. There is no provision in the law which would authorize the lower Court to compel the appellant to furnish a supersedeas bond as a condition to perfecting his appeal from a final decree which is a matter of right under the Constitution and laws of this State. See Section 59.01, F.S.1951, F.S.A.; Willey v. Hoggson, 89 Fla. 446, 105 So. 126; Compare Larson v. Higginbotham, Fla.1953, 66 So. 2d 40.
For the reasons herein set forth, the order of April 7, 1954, requiring the payment of $1000 as temporary counsel fees and costs to appellee wife, and the order of May 13, 1954, with relation to the posting of a supersedeas bond and fixing its terms and conditions, are hereby quashed, vacated and set aside with leave, however, to the lower Court to enter such other or further orders as may be necessary to enforce the provisions of the final decree in said cause until such time as appellant husband shall apply for and post an appropriate superse-deas bond under the provisions of the rules of this Court.
Certiorari granted.
ROBERTS, C. J., and THOMAS and HOBSON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (18 total)
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Sundie v. Haren, 253 So. 2d 857 (Fla. 1971)…is without jurisdiction. The writ is hereby discharged and the petition for certiorari is dismissed. It is so ordered. CARLTON, ADKINS, and McCAIN, JJ., concur. ROBERTS, C. J., and DREW (Retired), J., concur in judgment. ERVIN, J., dissents. . 73 So. 2d 905 (Fla.1954). . Haren v. Sundie, 219 So. 2d 731 (Fla.App. 3rd 1969). . 233 So. 2d 417, 418 (Fla.App.3rd 1970). . 73 So. 2d 905, 906 (Fla.1954). . 130 Fla. 136, 177 So. 313 (1938). . 184 So. 2d 916 (Fla.App.3rd 1966). . Fla. East Coast Railway Co…1 / 2
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Mann v. Thompson, 118 So. 2d 112 (Fla. 1st DCA 1960)…affirmed. STURGIS, J., and FITZPATRICK, W. L., Associate Judge, concur. . Mann v. Thompson. Fla.App.1958, 100 So. 2d 684. . State ex rel. Hill v. Hearn, Fla.1957, 99 So. 2d 231; Wall v. Johnson, Fla.1955, 80 So. 2d 362. . Horn v. Horn, Fla.1954, 73 So. 2d 905. . Florida East Coast R. R. Co. v. State, 77 Fla. 571, 82 So. 136; Maxwell v. Jacksonville Loan & Improvement Co., 45 Fla. 468, 34 So. 255. . 5B C.J.S. Appeal and Error, § 1983, pp. 626, 627. . Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Florida, 295 U.S. 301,…
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Ronette Commc'ns Corp. v. Pasquale Lopez, 475 So. 2d 1360 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985)…have obtained a stay of execution pending appeal by posting the bond described in appellate rule 9.310(b)(1) but did not is of no legal import here. Appellant’s right to appeal is not conditioned upon the posting of a supersedeas bond. Horn v. Horn, 73 So. 2d 905 (Fla.1954); Fitzgerald v. Addison, 287 So. 2d 151 (Fla. 2d DCA 1973). We note, however, that appellant’s choice of paying the judgment rather than posting a bond pending appeal is a risky one. Although appellant shall be entitled to reimbursement fr…
Previewing 3 of 18 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Willey v. W. J. Hoggson Corp., 89 Fla. 446 (Fla. 1925)
- Shuron Hester v. State, 312 So. 3d 173 (Fla. 1st DCA 2021)
- Garland v. The OLD Mill Stream Co., 66 So. 2d 40 (Fla. 1953)
- Holland v. State, 15 Fla. 549 (Fla. 1876)
- State v. Barron Phillips, 32 Fla. 403 (Fla. 1893)