JOSEPH R. LAIRD AND DOLORES LAIRD, HIS WIFE; RICK ENTERPRISES, INC.; THE MIRROR, INC.; WILLIAM FALKOWSKI AND IRENE FALKOWSKI, HIS WIFE; AND ANDREW DZIADON AND FRANCES DZIADON, HIS WIFE, APPELLANTS,
v.
DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATION, STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1983-09-28
No. 81-484
HURLEY, J., concurs., DOWNEY, J., dissents, with opinion.
439 So. 2d 918 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1983) Caution
Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Property owners challenged the state's assertion of an easement interest in Pembroke Road based on a 1944 deed reservation. The trial court upheld the state's easement claim, finding the road had been legislatively established as a state road prior to the deed. The appellate court affirmed but certified a question to the Florida Supreme Court regarding the statutory requirements for official state road classification.


Holding

The trial court correctly determined that the state preserved its interest in Pembroke Road through the 1944 deed reservation because Pembroke Road had been legislatively established as a state road prior to the deed and the deed specifically reserved the state's rights. However, the court certified to the Supreme Court whether surveying and filing were statutorily required for official state road classification.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court's determination that a road was a state road for purposes of a deed reservation is supported by competent substantial evidence when consistent with statutor…

[2] A road can be established as a state road by legislative act prior to its physical existence or designation on a survey.

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Key Quotes

“the trial court's determination that Pembroke Road in Broward County was a state road for purposes of effecting the reservation of an easement in favor of the state in a 1944 deed issued to appellants' predecessor in title is supported by competent substantial evidence”

Establishes that the trial court's finding regarding state road status was properly supported by evidence

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellants owned property in Broward County through predecessor-in-title who received a 1944 deed that reserved the state's rights in Pembroke Road. T…

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Opinion of the Court
ANSTEAD, Chief Judge.

ANSTEAD, Chief Judge.

We affirm the trial court’s judgment denying appellants’ claim of inverse condemnation. We believe the trial court’s determination that Pembroke Road in Broward County was a state road for purposes of effecting the reservation of an easement in favor of the state in a 1944 deed issued to appellants’ predecessor in title is supported by competent substantial evidence and is consistent with pertinent statutory provisions concerning state roads and rights of way. The trial court concluded that Pembroke Road had been specifically established by legislative act as a state road several years before the 1944 deed was issued; that Pembroke Road had existed at the location set out by the legislature for many years prior to the legislative designation; and that the 1944 deed specifically reserved the state’s rights in Pembroke Road now challenged by the appellants. While the statutes defining state roads for various purposes are somewhat ambiguous, we do not believe the trial court’s conclusions are inconsistent with those provisions insofar as they affect the issue of whether the state’s interest in Pembroke Road was preserved by the 1944 deed. Cf. §§ 320.-01(17), 341.28, 341.47 and 341.60, Fla.Stat. (1941).

While we have concluded that the trial court acted correctly, we believe the statutory provisions sufficiently uncertain, and the issue decided to be sufficiently important, that we certify the following question to the Supreme Court:

Was it necessary, under the statutory scheme in existence prior to the issuance of the 1944 deed involved herein, for the State of Florida to have surveyed and fixed the line of a road, and filed such survey with the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the county where the road was located, before the road in question could be officially classified as a state road?

HURLEY, J., concurs.

DOWNEY, J., dissents, with opinion.

Dissent
DOWNEY, Judge,

DOWNEY, Judge,

dissenting.

As I understand this record, when the Everglades Drainage District conveyed the property in question to Johnson (appellant’s predecessor in title) in January, 1944, Pembroke Road was not a state road as defined in Section 341.28, Florida Statutes (1941). In order to be classified as a state road, it must have been designated as such by the Legislature and the location of the line and right of way must have been surveyed and fixed upon by the [State Road] Department or its duly authorized engineers and representatives. Thereafter, a certified copy of the plat of such survey was required to be filed in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the road existed. In 1944 the line of the road had not been surveyed or fixed by the department. This was not done until 1975. Therefore, the reservation in the Johnson deed reserving unto the State of Florida an easement 200' wide, lying 100' on each side of the center-line of any state road existing on the date of the deed should not affect appellant’s property.

Given the foregoing, it appears to me that appellants were entitled to compensation for the property taken.


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Citator

Cited By

  • …If two constructions of a phrase are equally possible, there is support in the case law to give effect to the construction affirming the interest of the state and its divisions, especially where the phrase is ambiguous. See Laird v. Div. of Admin., 439 So. 2d 918 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983), approved, 465 So. 2d 486 (Fla.1984). When the easement was created in the instant case, we conclude that the easement was reserved for the future widening of a public highway. Gunn Highway is still a public highway. We further c…
  • Laird v. State of Fla. Dep't OF Transp., 465 So. 2d 486 (Fla. 1984)
    …e county where the road was located, before the road in question could be officially classified as a state road? The district court, under the peculiar facts of this case, answered this question in the negative. Laird v. Division of Administration, 439 So. 2d 918 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). We approve the decision of the district court. Pembroke Road in Broward County was widened by the Department of Transportation beginning in 1975 with construction being completed in 1977. In September 1976, petitioners filed a…

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