Court Opinion

ID: 4432791
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2019-08-23 18:02:31.90244+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:27:53.505135
License: Public Domain

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                 STATE OF FLORIDA
                  _____________________________

                          No. 1D18-2615
                  _____________________________

HENRY BELL,

    Appellant,

    v.

CITY OF JACKSONVILLE and
JACKSONVILLE TRANSPORTATION
AUTHORITY,

    Appellees.
                  _____________________________

On appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County.
Eric C. Roberson, Judge.

                         August 23, 2019

PER CURIAM.

     Henry Bell appeals an order dismissing his negligence claim
against the Jacksonville Transit Authority. We find no error in
the trial court’s dismissal of the claim on statute of limitations
grounds. The claim, asserted for the first time against the JTA in
the amended complaint, was untimely and did not relate back to
the claims asserted in the original complaint against the City of
Jacksonville, a separate and distinct legal entity. See Patel v. Sch.
Bd. of Volusia Cty., 813 So. 2d 135, 136 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002)
(finding that the county and the county school board were not
sufficiently related to justify application of the relation-back
doctrine).
     Bell also appeals a separate order granting partial summary
judgment to the City of Jacksonville. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.110(k)
(providing that partial final judgments are reviewable either on
appeal from the partial final judgment or on appeal from the final
judgment in the entire case); Roessler v. Novak, 858 So. 2d 1158,
1160 n.1 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). This portion of the appeal is
dismissed as untimely. See, e.g., Wagner v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.
A., 249 So. 3d 620 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018) (“Timely filing of the notice
of appeal is jurisdictional.”).

    AFFIRMED in part and DISMISSED in part.

ROWE, JAY, and M.K. THOMAS, JJ., concur.

                 _____________________________

    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
               _____________________________

Michael D. McGrath and M. Brad Gibson of McGrath Gibson, LLC,
Jacksonville, for Appellant.

Katy A. Harris, Office of General Counsel, City of Jacksonville, for
City of Jacksonville; Beverly A. Pohl of Nelson Mullins Broad and
Cassel, Fort Lauderdale, and Richard N. Milian of Nelson Mullins
Broad and Cassel, Orlando, for Jacksonville Transportation
Authority, Appellees.

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