Court Opinion

ID: 9957124
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-03 18:02:56.15664+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:06.833553
License: Public Domain

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                 STATE OF FLORIDA
                  _____________________________

                         No. 1D2023-2258
                  _____________________________

ANTHONY RAY PEEK,

    Petitioner,

    v.

FLORIDA COMMISSION ON
OFFENDER REVIEW,

    Respondent.
                  _____________________________

Petition for Writ of Certiorari—Original Jurisdiction.

                            April 3, 2024

TANENBAUM, J.

     The trial court below dismissed the petitioner’s complaint
seeking a writ of prohibition. The order of dismissal in that
instance is a final order. It is appealable as a matter of right
because the trial court did not render that order in a review
capacity. Cf. City of Deerfield Beach v. Vaillant, 419 So. 2d 624,
626 (Fla. 1982) (agreeing that “a final judgment of a circuit court
acting in its review capacity is not appealable as a matter of
right”). We in turn convert the petition to an appeal. See Fla. R.
App. P. 9.040(c). The appeal, however, is untimely. See Fla. R. App.
P. 9.110(b) (requiring that a notice of appeal be filed within thirty
days of rendition of the order to be reviewed); see also Art. V, § 2(a),
Fla. Const. (providing authority to the supreme court to “adopt
rules for the practice and procedure in all courts including the time
for seeking appellate review”).

     Timeliness of an appeal is jurisdictional. Cf. § 59.081(2), Fla.
Stat. (“Failure to invoke the jurisdiction of [an appellate court]
within the time prescribed by [supreme court rule] shall divest
such court of jurisdiction to review such cause.”). When a notice of
appeal has been untimely filed, dismissal is the only course of
action for this court. See Donin v. Goss, 69 So. 2d 316, 318 (Fla.
1954) (“However, a principle so well settled that no citation of
authority is required, is that jurisdiction cannot be conferred on
this Court by consent. Unless an appeal is taken within the
prescribed time, this Court has no jurisdiction whatever.”); see also
Counne v. Saffan, 87 So. 2d 586, 587 (Fla. 1956) (“The filing of the
notice of appeal is jurisdictional and this court is without power to
exercise its jurisdiction in the absence of the filing of such a notice
within the time and manner prescribed by our rules.”); State ex rel.
Diamond Berk Ins. Agency, Inc. v. Carroll, 102 So. 2d 129, 131 (Fla.
1958) (“A court has no power to act in the absence of a
jurisdictional foundation for the exercise of the power. The timely
and proper filing of a notice of appeal is a jurisdictional essential
to enable an appellate court to exercise its power.”); Peltz v. Dist.
Ct. of Appeal, Third Dist., 605 So. 2d 865, 866 (Fla. 1992) (“The
untimely filing of a notice of appeal precludes the appellate court
from exercising jurisdiction.”).

B.L. THOMAS, J., concurs; LEWIS, J., concurs in result only without
opinion.

                  _____________________________

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

Anthony Ray Peek, pro se, Petitioner.

No appearance for Respondent.

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