Case Title: Town of Coreytown v. State Ex Rel. Ervin

Citation: 60 So. 2d 482

Docket Number: 

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1952-08-29T00:00:00Z

Document:
60 So. 2d 482 (1952)
TOWN OF COREYTOWN et al.
v.
STATE ex rel. ERVIN, Attorney General et al.

Supreme Court of Florida, Special Division B.
August 29, 1952.
Rehearing Denied October 2, 1952.
*483 Wolfe, Wightman & Rowe, John R. Bonner, Clearwater, and Charles J. Schuh & Son, St. Petersburg, for appellants.
Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., Richard G. Key and Jack Clark, St. Petersburg, for appellees.
REVELS, Associate Justice.
This is an appeal from final judgment of ouster entered August 1, 1951, by the Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida, in and for Pinellas County. The appellees (relator and co-relators in the Court below) filed their amended information in the nature of a quo warranto suit on January 30, 1951. On February 10, 1951, appellants (respondents in Court below) filed defenses in the nature of motion to strike and motion to dismiss, which were denied on April 10, 1951, and the appellants were allowed until May 1st to file their reply to said amended information. On said date appellants filed their answer and defenses to said amended information, and on June 15th appellees filed a motion for judgment of ouster notwithstanding the return. Subsequently, on July 2, 1951, the Court entered an order of continuance until July 20, 1951, at 1:00 p.m. From an examination of the record before this Court it appears that the only order entered by the Court below on July 20, 1951, was one setting the cause for trial before a jury Monday morning, at 9:30 a.m., July 23, 1951; that prior to going to trial on July 23, 1951, the Court held a pre-trial conference on the case. It is considered advisable to incorporate herein the material part of the proceedings at the pre-trial, to wit:
The record does not disclose that notice was given in accordance with Common Law, Rule 32, 30 F.S.A., by either party or the Clerk of the Court. At the pre-trial conference the appellants admitted there were thirty-one registered voters who participated in the incorporators' meeting, but only seventeen of them were shown to be registered freeholders in the office of the Supervisor of Registration. The Court ruled that the issue was limited as to whether or not there were twenty five or more persons, whose freehold interests were registered with the Supervisor of Registration and who were registered voters and participated in the incorporators' meeting at the time the municipality was incorporated under Chapter 165, Florida Statutes, F.S.A.; and denied appellants' motion for leave to amend.
Thereupon final judgment of ouster was entered in which the Court below ordered, among other things, "that the respondents be and they hereby are allowed to strike Sub-sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Defense Number 1 of said answer and that the respondents' motion to amend Defense Number 2 be and the same is hereby denied."
In State ex rel. Johnson v. City of Sarasota, 92 Fla. 563, 109 So. 473, it is said "quo warranto is a civil rather than a criminal remedy, and the pleadings are governed generally by the rules applicable to ordinary civil proceedings." Florida Common Law Rule No. 32, requires the *487 giving of 15 days written notice by either of the parties or by the Clerk of the Court, that the case is ready for trial and will be placed on the trial calendar. See Florida Common Law Rule 32, Paragraphs A and C. The giving of said notice is mandatory upon the Court and litigants, unless the parties to the action waive the same and consent to trial by proper stipulation duly made and entered. National Trucking Company, Inc., v. Gill, 132 Fla. 844, 182 So. 220.
Common Law Rule 16 provides that after all issues are settled the Court may of its own motion set a case for pre-trial conference to consider and determine: "(1) The simplification of the issues; (2) The necessity or desirability of amendments of the pleadings; (3) The possibility of obtaining admissions of fact and of documents which will avoid unnecessary proof; (4) The limitation of the number of expert witnesses; (5) Such other matters as may aid in the disposition of the action." The pleadings had not been settled before the Court set the case for trial or before the calling of the pre-trial conference. This is suggestive only because no definite formula has been devised for pre-trial procedure and every Court should work out its own plan for best results, but experience has demonstrated that the Court and attorneys should approach this procedure with a cordial and co-operative attitude. The Court should not lose patience, nor permit the attorneys to engage in heated arguments. A pre-trial should not be attempted while a jury is waiting to try the case, because this places every one under pressure. After the case has been docketed in accordance with Common Law Rule 32, the Court should set a date for pre-trial, giving sufficient notice to the attorneys to permit preparation, and at the pre-trial allow reasonably sufficient time to fully explore the case. The Court should guide the pre-trial proceedings in a calm and frank discussion and exploration to accomplish the purposes outlined in Common Law Rule 16. At the conclusion of pre-trial the Court should set a trial date, or mark the case ready to be set for trial. If additional pleadings are required or advisable, return the case to the progress docket. After all, Rule 16 can be an effective instrument, for the purposes intended, only under the calm and skillful guidance of the Court, with the co-operation of the attorneys.
Appellants had not previously amended their answer and their motion for leave to do so was denied. Florida Common Law Rule 15, Subsection A provides "Otherwise a party may amend his pleading only by leave of court or by written consent of the adverse party; and leave shall be freely given when justice so requires." To settle the issues of a case and to meet the ends of justice it becomes necessary to allow parties to amend pleadings, and the rules of procedure so provide that "leave shall be freely given when justice so requires." This is a discretionary matter with the Court, but the power of discretion should not be so exercised that the rights of litigants are defeated.
The appellants should have been allowed leave to amend, setting up whatever defenses they considered advisable and appropriate, and thereafter the Court should have passed upon the sufficiency of such defenses in accordance with the law pertaining thereto. Leave to amend should not be denied, unless and until the privilege to amend has been abused. Even though the Court below is of the opinion the proffered defenses would not constitute a valid defense, the amendments should be allowed and ruled on so that the record of the case will be complete. Marks v. Fields, 160 Fla. 789, 36 So. 2d 612; Stranahan, Harris & Co. v. Hillsborough County, 154 Fla. 658, 18 So. 2d 789; Twyman v. Livingston, Fla., 58 So. 2d 518.
The Court below ruled at the pre-trial conference that it was a matter of law and not of fact to be qualified to participate in the incorporators' meeting each registered voter must also be registered in the office of the Supervisor of Registration as a freeholder.
Section 165.01, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. reads "It is lawful for the male and female inhabitants, who are freeholders and registered *488 voters of any hamlet, * * *." Throughout Chapter 165, touching upon qualifications of persons eligible to participate as incorporators of a town, the language used is "who are freeholders and registered voters".
This Court has heretofore defined the meaning of "a freeholder" in Dean v. State, 74 Fla. 277, 77 So. 107, 109, as "One who has an immediate beneficial ownership interest, legal or equitable, in the title to a fee-simple estate in land, may be regarded as a `freeholder'". Therefore, one who owns an interest, legal or equitable, in land is a freeholder, and to be a freeholder one does not have to register as such in the office of the Supervisor of Registration. The registration of the office of the Supervisor of Registration of one's ownership interest in land is evidence of an existing fact as of the date of such registration, but the fact that such ownership interest in land is not so registered is not conclusive that one is not a freeholder. Conversely, one may possess an ownership interest in land on the date of registration as a freeholder, but immediately thereafter dispose of his ownership interest in land, and by reason of that lose his legal status as a freeholder, yet be registered as such in the records of the Supervisor of Registration. The fact of ownership or nonownership interest in land determines whether or not a person is or is not a freeholder. It is true that for certain types of elections the statutes require the freeholder to be registered as such in the office of the Supervisor of Registration. In Holmer, Supervisor of Registration, v. State ex rel. Stewart, 158 Fla. 397, 28 So. 2d 586, 588, we said "the date of the bond election must fix the date for final purge of the registration list as a prerequisite to vote in a bond election."
Chapter 165, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. does not require that persons be registered freeholders, but only that they be persons who are freeholders and registered voters. The question as to who are freeholders qualified to participate in an incorporators' meeting is a question of fact to be determined as of the date of said meeting by due course of law. The fact of non-registration as a freeholder in the office of the Supervisor of Registration will not constitute a disqualification if the registered voter did in fact have an ownership interest in land on said date. A person can be a freeholder by virtue of ownership interest in land, yet never register as such in the office of the Supervisor of Registration. It is a question of fact to be properly determined as to whether twenty-five or more of the registered voters, who participated in the incorporators' meeting of the Town of Coreytown, held an ownership interest in land on the date of said incorporators' meeting.
The judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded for further proceedings by due course of law.
Reversed and remanded.
SEBRING, C.J., and ROBERTS and MATHEWS, JJ., concur.