GURVIS J. RICHARD
v.
GULF THEATRES, A CORPORATION
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Property owner Richard appealed the dismissal of his bill seeking to enjoin Gulf Theatres from obstructing Nebraska Avenue Loop. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the obstruction did not specially injure Richard's individual property rights but merely interfered with the public's common right of passage, which remedy lies with public authorities rather than equity courts.
A property owner may seek equity relief for unlawful highway obstructions only when the obstruction specially injures individual property rights in a manner differing in kind and degree from injuries to the public generally. Here, the obstruction caused damages differing only in degree, not kind, from those suffered by the public, so equity jurisdiction was improper.
“when the property rights of an individual are specially injured by an unlawful obstruction in a public street or highway, and no adequate remedy at law is afforded, he may have the aid of a court of equity in removing such unlawful obstruction; but if such obstruction merely interferes with the right of the passage common to all citizens, and no individual rights are specially or peculiarly injured the relief for such unlawful obstruction should be through the proper public authorities.”
States the governing rule for when equity jurisdiction exists for highway obstruction cases
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRichard owned several store-building lots abutting Nebraska Avenue Loop, an 80-foot-wide street with a 16-foot paved center used for traffic. Gulf The…
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From an order sustaining motion to dismiss an amended bill of complaint, which bill sought to enjoin an alleged obstruction of a part of a public highway, the plaintiff perfected appeal here.
The order appealed from sets out the salient facts appearing in the record with the judgment of the court and, therefore, we quote the order, for the sake of brevity, as follows:
*627“This cause comes on to be heard upon the motion to dismiss the amended bill of complaint. The amended bill sets out substantially that the plaintiff is the owner of several lots abutting on the south side of what is known as Nebraska Avenue Loop, which lots are improved with store buildings. The said Nebraska Avenue Loop, according to the map made a part of the amended bill of complaint, is a street eighty feet in width, the-center sixteen feet of which is paved and used for traffic. The said Nebraska Avenue Loop runs diagonally between connecting or cross streets running in a North westerly and southeasterly direction. The plaintiff’s property being on the southeasterly side of the street and the property of the defendant being on the northwesterly side of the street. The amended bill of complaint goes on to allege that the defendant ‘is willfully and illegally and without right or authority of law, obstructing the use of said portion of said highway, by dumping piles of building material, sand and gravel, thereon, and by the ejection of buildings thereon for a depth of fifteen feet on the north side of said portion for all of said distance and width as indicated, by said tract ‘B’ The said tract ‘B’ being the. entire width of the block on which the defendant.is charged with erecting said building. The prayer of the amended bill of complaint is that the defendant be enjoined from interfering with the free and accustomed use and enjoyment of the said highway by the plaintiff. .
“It is well settled that when the property rights of an individual are specially injured by an unlawful obstruction in a public street or highway, and no adequate remedy at law is afforded, he may have the aid of a court of equity in removing such unlawful obstruction; but if such obstruction merely interferes with the right of the passage common to all citizens, and no individual rights are specially or peculiarly injured the relief for such unlawful obstruction should be through the proper public authorities. The damages suffered by the plaintiff must differ in kind and degree from those suffered by the public generally. The obstruction placed in the street by the defendant takes up fifteen feet leaving apparently sixty five feet of the street unobstructed including *628the paved portion thereof. The damages, if any,' suffered by the plaintiff are no different in kind than that suffered by'the public generally even though they may perhaps differ in degree because of the ownership of the lots in question but different in degree is not sufficient of itself.
The motion to dismiss the amended bill of complaint is sustained with leave on the part of defendant to further amend the bill of complaint as he may be advised and upon his failure to so amend within twenty (20) days from this date the amended bill of complaint shall stand dismissed with prejudice.”
It is unnecessary for us to reiterate here the rules governing cases of this sort which we have heretofore stated. See Bozeman v. City of St. Petersburg, 74 Fla. 336, 76 So. 894; Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Ry. Co. v. Thompson, 34 Fla. 346, 16 So. 282; Henry L. Doherty & Co. Inc. v. Joachim, et al., 146 Fla. 50, 200 So. 238.
On authority of the opinions and judgments in the above cited cases, and authorities therein cited, the decree of the lower court is affirmed.
So ordered.
CHAPMAN, C. J., TERRELL and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Boucher v. Novotny, 102 So. 2d 132 (Fla. 1958)…imself and differing in kind rather than in degree from the damages suffered by the people as a whole. Brown v. Florida Chautauqua Ass’n, 59 Fla. 447, 52 So. 802; Henry L. Doherty & Co. v. Joachim, 146 Fla. 50, 200 So. 238; Richard v. Gulf Theatres, 155 Fla. 626, 21 So. 2d 715. The appellants appear to concede that this has been the rule in such matters as the abatement of nuisances and the obstruction of public highways. However, they assert that we have never announced this to be the rule in the case of…
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Wedner v. Escambia Chem. Corp., 102 So. 2d 631 (Fla. 1st DCA 1958)…ich in fact and in law did not exist. Finding no error in the order appealed from the same must be and is hereby affirmed. STURGIS, C. J., concurs, . Brooks-Garrison Hotel Corp. v. Sara Inv. Co., Fla.1952, 61 So. 2d 913; Richard v. Gulf Theatres, 155 Fla. 626, 21 So. 2d 715; Henry L. Doherty & Co., Inc. v. Joachim, 146 Fla. 50, 200 So. 238; Bozeman v. City of St. Petersburg, 74 Fla. 336, 76 So. 894. See also: Pirtle v. City of Titusville, Fla.App., 101 So. 2d 397. .Garnett v. Jacksonville, St. A. & H. R…
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Dominguez v. City OF Miami, 157 Fla. 95 (Fla. 1946)…PER CURIAM: The decree appealed from is affirmed upon authority of Garnett v. The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Ry. Co., 20 Fla. 889; Richard v. Gulf Theatres, 155 Fla. 626, 21 So. (2nd) 715; Bozeman v. City of St. Petersburg, 74 Fla. 336, 76 So. 894. Affirmed. CHAPMAN, C. J., TERRELL, BUFORD and ADAMS, JJ., concur.…
Authorities Cited
- Bozeman v. The City of St. Petersburg, 74 Fla. 336 (Fla. 1917)
- Henry L. Doherty & Co., Inc. v. Joachim, 146 Fla. 50 (Fla. 1941)
- Jacksonville v. Thompson, 34 Fla. 346 (Fla. 1894)