GISSEN
v.
GOODWILL ET AL.

Fla. | 1954-07-30
ROBERTS, C. J., and SEBRING and MATHEWS, JJ., concur.
74 So. 2d 86 Florida Supreme Court (1954) Positive Treatment
Cited by 10 cases

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Synopsis

A plaintiff employee sued a minor child and her parents after the child allegedly severed his finger by swinging a door at a hotel. The Florida Supreme Court dismissed the appeal as to the minor defendant due to improper service of process, holding that jurisdiction over a minor requires appointment of a guardian ad litem and service upon that guardian as mandated by statute.


Holding

The court held that service of process on the minor defendant was invalid and the lower court lacked jurisdiction because Section 47.23 requires that a guardian ad litem be appointed by the court and served with the summons. The defect in service cannot be cured by waiver or general appearance.


Key Quotes

“Section 47.23, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., provides that jurisdiction over a minor defendant may be secured in common law actions by serving the original summons ad respondendum upon the minor by reading said summons to the minor and to the guardian or other person in whose care or custody the minor may be, or by delivery of a copy of the summons to the minor and to his guardian or other person in whose care or custody the minor may be, and by further serving the writ or summons upon the guardian ad litem thereafter appointed by the court to represent said minor.”

Establishes the statutory requirement for service of process on a minor defendant in Florida

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Facts & Procedural History

Julius Gissen, an employee at the Gaylord Hotel in Miami Beach, was injured when Geraldine Goodwill, an eight-year-old minor, allegedly grasped and sw…

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Opinion of the Court
TERRELL, Justice.

TERRELL, Justice.

Appellant as plaintiff exhibited his complaint against Geraldine Goodwill, a minor, eight years of age, the material part of which charged that said minor did willfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously grasp a swinging door in the lobby of the Gaylord Hotel in Miami Beach where plaintiff was an employee and did swing the door with such great force and violence against the plaintiff that the middle finger on his left hand was caught in the door' and a portion of said finger was caused to be instantaneously severed and fell to the floor. As-codefendants the plaintiff named Mr. and Mrs. Albert Goodwill, father and mother of said minor, charging that they knew of the dangerous tendencies and wanton propensities of their child but which they carelessly and negligently failed to restrain. The complaint was twice amended, but was dismissed each time, the order dismissing the second amended complaint stating:

“The Court being of the opinion that the material facts as alleged in the plaintiff’s Complaint and Amended Complaint did not charge any actionable negligence to the defendants, and being of the further opinion that the material facts as alleged in the Complaint and Amended Complaint heretofore filed, create a bar to any action by this plaintiff against these defendants arising out of the incident complained of, final judgment is entered in favor of defendants Albert Goodwill, Mrs. Albert Goodwill and Geraldine Goodwill, a minor, and against the plaintiff, Julius Gissen.”

From said order of dismissal the plaintiff appealed.

The defendant minor moves to dismiss, the appeal because of failure to appoint a guardian ad litem to represent her. '

It does appear from the exhibits attached' to the minor’s motion to supplement the record that no guardian ad litem was appointed to represent her. Service of process was secured on her by serving summons, ad respondendum and copy of complaint on the infant defendant’s mother, Mrs. Albert Goodwill, as guardian and the person in whose care and custody the minor was at, the time of the service of process.

Section 47.23, Florida Statutes, F.S.A.,. provides that jurisdiction over a minor defendant may be secured in common law actions by serving the original summons ad respondendum upon the minor by reading said summons to the minor and to the guardian or other person in whose care or custody the minor may be, or by delivery of a copy of the summons to the minor and to his guardian or other person in whose care or custody the minor may be, and by further serving the writ or summons upon the guardian ad litem thereafter appointed by the court to represent said minor. The motion to dismiss raises for the first time the question of whether or not Section 47.23, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., was complied with in making service on the minor defendant. Grimsley v. Rosenberg, 94 Fla. 673, 114 So. 553, and Wise v. Wise, 134 Fla. 553, 184 So. 91, treat the question and hold that the service on the minor is invalid unless the statute is complied with. See also McDermott v. Thompson, 29 Fla. 299, 10 So. 584, and Thompson v. McDermott, 19 Fla. 852, where this view is fortified. Some of these cases hold that the defect in service is not cured by waiver or by appearing generally.

Since no guardian ad litem was appointed to represent the appellee, Geraldine Goodwill, a minor, it follows that the lower court had no jurisdiction, nor does this court have jurisdiction, over the person of said minor defendant. The motion to dismiss the appeal as to her is granted, but without prejudice to the plaintiff-appellant’s right to reinstate the cause in the court below as to said defendant, secure the appointment of a guardian ad litem to represent the infant defendant, and make service on such guardian ad litem as the law requires. The motion of the infant defendant to supplement the record to show that summons was not served on a guardian ad litem and that no such guardian was appointed is granted.

Jurisdiction of the appeal as to the remaining defendant-appellees (the parents of the infant defendant) is retained for consideration of the question of the merits of the cause of action stated by the plaintiff-appellant against such defendants at such time as this question is properly presented.

It is so ordered.

ROBERTS, C. J., and SEBRING and MATHEWS, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Brown v. Ripley, 119 So. 2d 712 (Fla. 1st DCA 1960)
    …hat the failure of a trial judge to appoint a guardian ad litem to represent a minor defendant was fatal to the court’s jurisdiction, and any judgment or decree rendered against an infant in such circumstances was void. Gissen v. Goodwill, Fla.1954, 74 So. 2d 86. Under another line of decisions rendered by the Supreme Court prior to the present rules of civil procedure it was held that- the failure to appoint a guardian ad litem to represent an infant defendant was an error in procedure only, subject to rev…
  • Savage v. Rowell Distrib. Corp., 95 So. 2d 415 (Fla. 1957)
    …een held that failure to appoint a guardian ad litem to represent an infant defendant is fatal to the jurisdiction of the court, so that a judgment or decree rendered against an infant in such circumstances is void. See Gissen v. Goodwill, Fla.1954, 74 So. 2d 86, and cases cited in support of the decision. Under another line of cases, it has been held that the failure to appoint a guardian ad litem to represent an infant defendant or other incompetent person is an error in procedure only, subject to reversa…
  • Brown v. Mack Mitchell and wife, 119 So. 2d 385 (Fla. 1960)
    …as well as the competent who had him in custody would become superfluous. Such a position is not justified since the decisions of this court definitely hold that statutes like Sec. 47.25, supra, must be strictly followed. Gissen v. Goodwill, Fla., 74 So. 2d 86, and cases cited therein. See also 10 Miami Law Quarterly 426; Drake v. Wimbourne, Fla.App., 112 So. 2d 27. Strict construction will not permit ignoring the requirement of service on the incompetent in addition to service on the one having him in c…

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