Case Name: Donald CRIGGER and Elaine Crigger, Appellants, v. FLORIDA POWER CORPORATION, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1985-05-30
Citations: 469 So. 2d 941
Docket Number: No. 84-944
Parties: Donald CRIGGER and Elaine Crigger, Appellants, v. FLORIDA POWER CORPORATION, Appellee.
Judges: FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 469
Pages: 941–942

Head Matter:
Donald CRIGGER and Elaine Crigger, Appellants, v. FLORIDA POWER CORPORATION, Appellee.
No. 84-944.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
May 30, 1985.
Leslie R. Gardieff, Crystal River, for appellants.
H. Rex Owen and Bruce Crawford of Owen & McCrory, St. Petersburg, for ap-pellee.

Opinion:
COBB, Chief Judge.
This appeal is from an order of taking in an inverse condemnation action. We have jurisdiction in this cause, as the order of taking grants to Florida Power Corporation the "full right of possession" to a requested right-of-way easement, simultaneous with the posting of a sum designated in the order (double the amount of the good-faith estimate). Clearly, the order does more than merely determine the date of the condemnor's wrongful appropriation of the property; it determines the legal right to immediate possession of property per Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130(a)(3)(C)(ii). While the appellants' points on appeal focus primarily on the question of the date of the taking, this focus does not render this appeal nonjusti- dable. The question of the date of the taking is an integral part of a determination of the right to immediate possession of property, and is an essential predicate to the subsequent trial on full and just compensation.
The evidence in this case establishes that there was in fact a taking by Florida Power. The point that is not clear is the date of the taking. The trial court's conclusion that the date of taking was October 26, 1976, is not based on competent and substantial evidence. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing to determine the proper date of taking, which would be the date Florida Power first wrongfully appropriated the property described in the appellants' complaint.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., J., concurs.
COWART, J., dissents with opinion.