MICHAEL V. COSTELLO, APPELLANT,
v.
C.G. STRICKLAND, JR., APPELLEE
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Three Florida State Prison inmates appealed a circuit court's dismissal of their petition for a writ of prohibition challenging threatened forced medical intervention to end their hunger strike, claiming it violated their First Amendment rights. The appellate court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction based on a prematurely filed notice of appeal.
The court did not reach the merits of the constitutional claim. The appeal was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because the notice of appeal was prematurely filed before the order dismissing the complaint was rendered, and petitioners made no showing of a prior oral dismissal that would permit invocation of the court's jurisdiction.
[1] Prohibition is an inappropriate remedy against an officer not exercising quasi-judicial power.
[2] A notice of appeal filed before the entry of the order being appealed is premature and deprives the appellate court of jurisdiction.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“prohibition is an inappropriate remedy against an officer not exercising quasi-judicial power”
Establishes that the writ of prohibition was the wrong remedy in this case.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCostello and two other inmates staged a hunger strike to protest conditions at Florida State Prison. Prison officials threatened to use forced medical…
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ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., Chief Judge.
Costello and two other inmates of Florida State Prison, without the assistance of counsel, appeal from a circuit court order dismissing as insufficient on its face their petition for a writ of prohibition and interim relief against the prison superintendent. Petitioners allege that the superintendent and other responsible officers of the prison threaten to remedy or terminate the inmates’ “total hunger strike,” which they staged “to protest the inhumane conditions of confinement” at the prison, by means of “forced medical treatment” and “intervention” not otherwise described. A subsequent motion sought immediate interim relief enjoining the superintendent “from intervening medically or force feeding [petitioners] when their health becomes jeopardized.” Petitioners claim that their “hunger strike” is a form of speech protected by the Constitutions of the United States and of the State of Florida.
We do not reach the merits of this constitutional claim for two reasons. First, prohibition is an inappropriate remedy against an officer not exercising quasi-judicial power. Muina v. Sheriff of Gulf County, 376 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). While Rules 1.110(a) and (b), Fla.R.Civ.P., and a liberal reading of petitioners’ prayer for a “temporary restraining order” might permit us to regard the action as for a temporary and permanent injunction, we are deterred by the second flaw in these proceedings. The notice of appeal was prematurely filed before the order dismissing the complaint was rendered, and no showing is made of a prior oral dismissal, as in Williams v. State, 324 So. 2d 74 (Fla.1975), which would permit the notice of appeal to invoke this Court’s jurisdiction.
For lack of jurisdiction the appeal is DISMISSED.
MILLS and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Williams v. State, 324 So. 2d 74 (Fla. 1975)
- Antonio Muina, M.D. v. Sheriff OF Gulf Cnty., 376 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979)