Opinion ID: 1829099
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ejectment Subject-Matter Jurisdiction and Due Process

Text: The first issue we must confront is whether the county court possessed subject-matter jurisdiction to even consider this ejectment action. We conclude that Florida's county courts lack subject-matter jurisdiction to entertain ejectment actions. Furthermore, we conclude that a county court may not  consistent with due process-vest itself with subject  matter jurisdiction by sua sponte judicially amending an ejectment complaint to state a cause of action under section 83.21, Florida Statutes (2006). In Florida, commercial landlords possess three separate, yet somewhat overlapping, remedies for removing a tenant who holds over after the expiration of a lease. See generally Nicholas C. Glover, Florida Commercial Landlord Tenant Law §§ 4.03-.07 (2007 ed.). These remedies are: first, the historic common-law remedy of ejectment, which the Legislature codified in 1967, see ch. 67-254, § 21, Laws of Fla.; § 66.021, Fla. Stat. (2006); second, an unlawful-detainer action under section 82.04, Florida Statutes (2006); and finally, a tenant-removal action under section 83.21, Florida Statutes (2006). Suffice it to say that while these actions may certainly be similar in some respects, a number of their pleading requirements differ, as may the forum in which the plaintiff is required file the appropriate complaint. For purposes of this decision, there are two relevant distinctions between these causes of action. First, ejectment actions are subject to the exclusive original jurisdiction of Florida's circuit courts, while county courts generally possess subject-matter jurisdiction in unlawful-detainer and tenant-removal actions (subject to their amount-in-controversy limit). Compare art. V, § 20(c)(3), Fla. Const., and § 26.012(2)(f), Fla. Stat. (2006) (vesting circuit courts with exclusive original jurisdiction in ejectment actions), with § 34.011(1)-(2), Fla. Stat. (2006) (vesting county courts with concurrent jurisdiction in tenant-removal actions and exclusive original jurisdiction in unlawful-detainer actions if within the county-court amount-in-controversy limit). Second, the summary procedure of section 51.011 applies during an unlawful-detainer or tenant-removal action but does not apply during an ejectment action. Compare § 82.04(1), Fla. Stat. (2006) (stating that section 51.011 applies to unlawful-detainer actions), and § 83.21, Fla. Stat. (2006) (stating that section 51.011 applies to tenant-removal actions), with ch. 66, Fla. Stat. (2006) (never mentioning section 51.011 explicitly or otherwise). Given the facts of this case, and assuming compliance with the amount-in-controversy requirement, V-Strategic could have filed either an ejectment action in circuit court, an unlawful-detainer action in county court, or a tenant-removal action in county court. See §§ 26.012(2)(f), 34.011, Fla. Stat. (2006); see also §§ 66.021 (ejectment), 82.04-.05 (unlawful detainer), 83.20-.21(tenant removal or eviction), Fla. Stat. (2006); Fla. R. Civ. P. Forms 1.940 (ejectment complaint), 1.938 (unlawful-detainer complaint), 1.947 (eviction complaint); Bailey v. Bailey, 114 So.2d 804, 805 (Fla. 1st DCA 1959) (outlining the elements of an ejectment claim); Partridge v. Partridge, 940 So.2d 611, 613 n. 2 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006) (substantially similar); Glover, supra §§ 4.03-.05 (describing ejectment, unlawful detainer, and tenant removal). [8] Notwithstanding its apparent ability to file an unlawful-detainer or tenant-removal claim in county court, V-Strategic did not do so and, instead, specifically designated the claim and filed papers as a suit in ejectment. [9] As the drafter of its complaint, V-Strategic made the conscious decision to seek ejectment, along with a damages claim, in a county court despite the fact that ejectment actions are subject to the exclusive original jurisdiction of Florida's circuit courts. See art. V, § 20(c)(3), Fla. Const.; § 26.012(2)(f), Fla. Stat. (2006). Pro-Art may challenge the county court's subject-matter jurisdiction at any time, and has chosen to do so at every stage of this litigation. See Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.140(b), (h)(2); Philip J. Padovano, 5 West's Fla. Practice Series § 1.4 (2007-08 ed.) (a party may challenge a court's subject-matter jurisdiction at any time, even on appeal). We take this opportunity to remind civil litigants that [a] complaint is ... essential to initiate an action.... [I]ts purpose is to invoke the subject matter jurisdiction of the court and to give notice of the claim.  Paulucci v. Gen. Dynamics Corp., 842 So.2d 797, 800 (Fla.2003) (emphasis supplied) (quoting Gen. Dynamics Corp. v. Paulucci, 797 So.2d 18, 21 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001), quashed on other grounds, 842 So.2d 797 (Fla.2003)). Having specifically and exclusively pled ejectment, V-Strategic and the county court lacked discretion to unilaterally amend the complaint during a hearing on a motion to dismiss in derogation of Pro-Art's substantive rights. See, e.g., Lovett v. Lovett, 93 Fla. 611, 112 So. 768, 775-76 (1927) (The jurisdiction and power of a court remain at rest until called into action by some suitor; it cannot, by its own action, institute a proceeding sua sponte. The action of a court must be called into exercise by pleading and process, prescribed or recognized by law [.] (emphasis supplied)); see also Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.190 ed. cmt. (Amendments under paragraph (b) of this rule [Amendments to Conform with the Evidence] can be made at any time but they must not prejudice the opposing party.  (emphasis supplied)). Florida law clearly holds that a trial court lacks jurisdiction to hear and to determine matters which are not the subject of proper pleading and notice,  and [t]o allow a court to rule on a matter without proper pleadings and notice is violative of a party's due process rights.  Carroll & Assocs., P.A. v. Galindo, 864 So.2d 24, 28-29 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003) (emphasis supplied) (quoting In re Estate of Hatcher, 439 So.2d 977, 980 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)) (citing Epic Metals Corp. v. Samari Lake E. Condo. Ass'n, Inc., 547 So.2d 198, 199 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); Robinson v. Malik, 135 So.2d 445, 445 (Fla. 3d DCA 1961)). Pro-Art is thus correct that the county court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to entertain the ejectment action that V-Strategic specifically sought through its ejectment summons and ejectment complaint. See art. V, § 20(c)(3), Fla. Const.; § 26.012(2)(f), Fla. Stat. (2006). As plaintiff, V-Strategic chose its cause of action (ejectment). However, the ejectment complaint was materially deficient because it did not specifically deraign V-Strategic's title dating from the common source of its and Pro-Art's property interests. See § 66.021(4), Fla. Stat. (2006). Additionally, the ejectment judgment was arguably defective because it did not specifically describe the property at issue as required under section 66.031, Florida Statutes (2006), and the decision of this Court in Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Co. v. Robbins, 81 So.2d 193, 199-200 (Fla.1955) (requiring either an accurate metes-and-bounds description or an accurate description based upon the relevant county property records). As stated in an editor's comment to the Rules of Civil Procedure, [u]nder the Florida Rule, vague and loose pleading will not be permitted. The complaint must show a legal liability by stating the elements of a cause of action [and] must plead factual matter sufficient to apprise the adversary of what he is called upon to answer so that the court may determine the legal effect of the complaint. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.110 ed. cmt. (emphasis supplied). V-Strategic expressly and exclusively pled ejectment; therefore, Pro-Art justifiably tailored its motion to dismiss to that action  Florida's county courts lack subject-matter jurisdiction to entertain ejectment actions. V-Strategic possessed a clear strategic motive for pleading ejectment (e.g., the ability to obtain possession, damages, and costs through a single cause of action, see § 66.021(3), Fla. Stat. (2006)), and it certainly exercised that option by including all of those items in its complaint. However, V-Strategic simply sought that relief in the wrong court, applied an incorrect procedure (section 51.011, Florida Statutes (2006)), and failed to comply with the mandatory requirements for ejectment provided in sections 66.021 and 66.031, Florida Statutes (2006). Section 51.011 states that [t]he procedure in this section applies only to those actions specified by statute or rule.  (Emphasis supplied.) However, neither section 51.011, chapter 66, nor the Rules of Civil Procedure state that section 51.011 applies to ejectment actions; therefore, the standard Rules of Civil Procedure apply in such actions. See § 51.011, Fla. Stat. (2006); chapter 66, Fla. Stat. (2006). V-Strategic had the ability to select the items and relief sought in its ejectment action and it had the option to plead a different cause of action if so desired. However, since it did not, Pro-Art responded properly by notifying both V-Strategic and the county court that Florida's circuit courts possess exclusive original jurisdiction in ejectment actions. See, e.g., Connolly v. Sebeco, Inc., 89 So.2d 482, 484 (Fla.1956) (The purpose of a complaint is to advise the Court and the defendant of the nature of a cause of action asserted by the plaintiff.); Parker v. Panama City, 151 So.2d 469, 472 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963) ([T]he function of the complaint is to accurately inform the defendant and the court of the nature of plaintiff's claim. ... The overriding requirement is that claimant's pleadings be sufficiently clear and direct to make it unnecessary for the respondent or the court to be clairvoyant in ascertaining the nature of the claim.  (emphasis supplied)). In sum, V-Strategic's specific ejectment summons and specific ejectment complaint failed to provide Pro-Art with notice that it faced (1) a chapter 83 tenant-removal action and (2) an altered time period for that distinct, non-pled cause of action. The county court's sua sponte, oral amendment of the complaint during the hearing on Pro-Art's Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject-Matter Jurisdiction thus violated Pro-Art's right to procedural due process and its right to seek meaningful relief in the courts of this State. See art. I, §§ 9, 21, Fla. Const. Due to this improper, sua sponte amendment, Pro-Art faced a procedural mechanism which is foreign to ejectment actions (section 51.011, Florida Statutes (2006)) and, as a result, suffered an unwarranted default judgment when it was ready to defend against this action as pled in V-Strategic's ejectment complaint. Cf. J.B. v. Fla. Dep't of Children & Fam. Servs., 768 So.2d 1060, 1064 (Fla.2000) (Procedural due process under the Florida Constitution guarantees to every citizen the right to have that course of legal procedure which has been established in our judicial system for the protection and enforcement of private rights. It contemplates that the defendant shall be given fair notice and afforded a real opportunity to be heard and defend in an orderly procedure, before judgment is rendered against him.  (emphasis supplied) (empty brackets omitted) (quoting Dep't of Law Enforcement v. Real Property, 588 So.2d 957, 960 (Fla.1991))). Therefore, Pro-Art is entitled to defend itself in this case on the merits, assuming that V-Strategic properly amends its complaint to state a cause of action in a court of this State that possesses each of the following: personal jurisdiction, subject-matter jurisdiction, and venue. Cf. Pensacola Wine & Spirits Distillers, Inc. v. Gator Distribs., Inc., 448 So.2d 34, 35 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) (where plaintiff improperly pled a tenant-removal action instead of an ejectment action, the district court held that the trial court should have permitted both parties to amend their pleadings). Thus far, this has not occurred in this case. Accordingly, for two principle reasons, we quash the decision of the Fourth District Court of Appeal and direct that court to remand to the county court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. First, the county court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to consider an ejectment action. Second, that court did not possess the authority to sua sponte amend V-Strategic's complaint for the purpose of avoiding this jurisdictional defect without also granting Pro-Art the corresponding opportunity to submit a responsive pleading and defend on the merits.