MARTHA GARDNER, APPELLANT,
v.
ANTHONY NIOSO, M.D.; BAPTIST PRIMARY CARE, INC.; GORDON POLLEY, M.D.; NORTH FLORIDA SURGEONS, P.A.; AND JACKSONVILLE NEUROLOGICAL CLINIC, P.A., APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 2013-02-14
No. 1D09-4767
DAVIS, THOMAS, and RAY, JJ., concur.
108 So. 3d 1122 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2013) Positive Treatment
Cited by 5 cases

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Synopsis

The appellate court granted a writ of prohibition preventing the trial court from entertaining appellant's motions to set aside an arbitration award and extend a stay in a dismissed medical malpractice action. The court held that once a dismissal based on an arbitration agreement was affirmed on appeal, the trial court lost jurisdiction and was bound by the appellate mandate to take no further action regarding the dismissed defendants.


Holding

The court held that once the appellate court's mandate issued affirming the dismissal, the trial court lost jurisdiction over the dismissed defendants and had a purely ministerial duty to obey the mandate. The trial court lacked discretionary power to alter, modify, or delay compliance with the mandate and must strike Appellant's motions for lack of jurisdiction.


Headnotes

[1] A motion to enforce a mandate may be treated as a petition for writ of prohibition when the moving party seeks an improper remedy.

[2] A trial court loses jurisdiction over parties once an action against them has been dismissed and that dismissal has been affirmed on appeal.

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Key Quotes

“a trial court's role upon the issuance of a mandate from an appellate court becomes purely ministerial and its function is limited to obeying the appellate court's order or decree.... A trial court does not have discretionary power to alter or modify the mandate of an appellate court in any way, shape or form”

Establishes the fundamental principle that trial courts must strictly comply with appellate mandates without discretionary modification

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Facts & Procedural History

The trial court dismissed a medical malpractice action against Appellees based on an arbitration agreement, and the appellate court affirmed that dism…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

OPINION ON MOTION TO ENFORCE MANDATE

PER CURIAM.

In this appeal before us, Appellees North Florida Surgeons, P.A., and Dr. Gordon Polley have filed a “Motion to Enforce Mandate” requesting this court to require the trial court to deny Appellant’s motion to extend stay and set aside arbitration award filed in lower tribunal case number 16-2008-CA000130. Appellant did not respond to the motion. We treat this motion as a Petition for Writ of Prohibition. See Fla. R.App. P. 9.040(c) (providing that if “a party seeks an improper remedy, the cause shall be treated as if the proper remedy had been sought.”). For the reasons explained below, we grant the writ.

The lower tribunal dismissed the aforementioned action as to Appellees based on an arbitration agreement, and this court affirmed that dismissal in Gardner v. Nioso, et al., 31 So.3d 950, 951 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010). This court’s mandate issued on April 9, 2010.

Despite the dismissal of the circuit court malpractice action, Appellant filed a motion to set aside the arbitration award or, alternatively, to stay in both the dismissed malpractice action and the arbitration case. This was met with Appellees’ motion to strike based on the trial court’s lack of jurisdiction over them based on the prior dismissal. The trial court refused to rule on the motion to set aside, granted the motion to stay, and denied Appellees’ motion to strike.

Appellant later filed the aforementioned motions to extend that stay and set aside in both that action and the arbitration case. During the hearing, counsel for Appellant candidly acknowledged that he was seeking to delay matters pending a decision by the Florida Supreme Court, which he hoped would find the arbitration agreement at issue in the arbitration case unenforceable and “give retroactive application to their decision,” and, thus, bring Appel-lees back into the case.

Rather than admonish counsel for this delay tactic, the trial court told counsel:

I understand exactly what you’re trying to do.... And if you had been right on this issue all along, then I think you deserve the — reap the benefits of it.... I think what I’m going to do is continue all pending motions in this case for three months.... I’m not granting the motion to stay. I’m just kicking it down the road for three months to — I’m just not going to do anything for three months, and you can get a date to continue it.

As Appellees correctly point out, by the trial court’s dismissal of the action against them, and the subsequent affirmance of that dismissal, the trial court no longer has jurisdiction over Appellees. Rather than strike Appellant’s motions, however, the trial court acquiesced in Appellant’s attempt to delay the trial court’s compliance with the mandate issued by this court al*1124most three years ago. See Basic Energy Corp. v. Hamilton County, 667 So.2d 249, 250 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) (holding “ ‘[a] trial court’s role upon the issuance of a mandate from an appellate court becomes purely ministerial and its function is limited to obeying the appellate court’s order or decree.... A trial court does not have discretionary power to alter or modify the mandate of an appellate court in any way, shape or form,’ and may not ‘change the law of the case as determined by the highest court hearing the case.’”) (quoting Torres v. Jones, 652 So.2d 893, 894 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)).

Accordingly, we GRANT this writ of prohibition and REMAND to the trial court with directions that Appellant’s motions be stricken for lack of jurisdiction. The lower court shall take no further action in lower tribunal case number 16-2008-CA000130 with respect to Appellees.

DAVIS, THOMAS, and RAY, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • …Whether a court has subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law reviewed de novo.” Sanchez v. Fernandez, 915 So. 2d 192, 192 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005). A trial court lacks jurisdiction to hear a case once it has been dismissed. See Gardner v. Nioso, 108 So. 3d 1122,1123 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013) (“[B]y the trial court’s dismissal of the action against them, and the subsequent affirmance of that dismissal, the trial court no longer has jurisdiction over Appellees.”); Harrison v. La Placida Cmty. Ass’n, 665 So. 2d 113…
  • Casino Inv., Inc. v. Palm Springs Mile Assocs., Ltd., 201 So. 3d 46 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015)
    …o. Dade Cnty., 569 So. 2d 887 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990) (granting motion to enforce mandate where trial court’s class certification on remand altered this Court’s determination regarding the class representative in first appeal); see also Gardner v. Nioso, 108 So. 3d 1122 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013). The motion to enforce the mandate is granted, and the trial court is directed to enter final declaratory judgment in favor of Casino and against Palm Springs. Reversed and remanded for consistent proceedings. . As this Court…
  • Stokes v. Jones (Fla. 1st DCA 2021)
    …timely filed motion under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540.” Rodriguez v. Temperature Concepts, Inc., 267 So. 3d 36, 38 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019) (citing Magloire v. Bank of N.Y., 147 So. 3d 594, 596 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)); see also Gardner v. Nioso, 108 So. 3d 1122 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013) (finding that court lacked jurisdiction after dismissal of the case). Outside of a motion under rule 1.540, the trial court also has jurisdiction to entertain a timely motion for rehearing under rule 1.530. A motion for new trial…

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