SAMUEL BINGHAM'S SONS MANUFACTURING COMPANY
v.
METROPOLIS PUBLISHING COMPANY

Fla. | 1935-05-15
Whitfield, C. J., and Ellis, Terrell, Brown and Buford, J. J., concur.
119 Fla. 333 Florida Supreme Court (1935) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 161 So. 426
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

Samuel Bingham's Sons Manufacturing Company sued Metropolis Publishing Company for an unpaid balance on an open account for work and materials. The trial court entered judgment for the defendant, the Circuit Court affirmed, and the Florida Supreme Court denied certiorari, holding that the statute of limitations barred the claim because suit was not brought within three years of the cause of action.


Holding

The statute of limitations bars the action because the cause of action arose upon defendant's repudiation, which occurred more than three years before suit was filed. The defendant's payment was intended as full discharge, not a partial payment on account, and therefore could not interrupt the statute of limitations bar.


Key Quotes

“Plaintiff had a right to sue for the balance at any time within the three years, but failed to do so.”

Establishes that the plaintiff had to bring suit within the statutory period and lost this right by delay.

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Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiff performed work and furnished materials totaling $6,502.20 for defendant. Defendant repudiated the entire transaction due to alleged breach o…

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Opinion of the Court
Davis, J.

Davis, J.

Samuel Bingham’s Sons Manufacturing Company, as plaintiff, sued Metropolis Publishing Company, as defendant, in an action at law on an open account. The verdict and judgment of the Civil Court of Record of Dade County were in favor of the defendant. The Circuit Court (Atkinson, Thompson and Trammell, Circuit Judges, concurring) affirmed. The case is now in the Supreme Court on the unsuccessful plaintiff’s application for certiorari to the appellate judgment of the Circuit Court.

The opinion of the Circuit Court prepared by Circuit Judge Atkinson was as follows:

“Plaintiff in error, plaintiff in the Court below, brought suit against defendant in error, defendant in the court below, to recover alleged balance due plaintiff by the defendant on an open account. There was verdict and judgment for the defendant, and plaintiff brings error.

*334“The declaration in this cause is upon the common counts. If plaintiff can recover in this action it must be upon the count for work done and material furnished and not upon the count for goods sold and delivered.

“Defendant in the court below filed many pleas among which is the plea of the statute of limitations. The evidence shows that defendant paid plaintiff for the rollers defendant had used and repudiated the balance of the account. Defendant had a right to designate the items in the invoice which it wished to pay. ' Nevertheless,, plaintiff accepted the check as a payment on account and sued for the balance. The suit was not brought within three years from the time the work was done and the material furnished and there is some dispute as to whether the action was brought within three years from the date of payment on account. However, in my view of the case, this is immaterial. Plaintiff had a right to sue for the balance at any time within the three years, but failed to do so. The trial judge directed a verdict for the defendant and stated his reasons for so doing. Without passing upon the points of law raised by the court in his order directing a verdict, we think it was proper for the defendant in this case. The judgment is affirmed.

“Dated at Miami, Florida, this 10th day of August, 1934.

“H. F. Atkinson,

“Circuit Judge.”

Our own investigation of the transcript presented and filed here in support of the petition for certiorari verifies and confirms the correctness of the Circuit Court’s opinion and judgment in this case.* Therefore the petition for *335certiorari is denied for the reasons stated in the Circuit Court’s opinion, which opinion we adopt and approve as our own in refusing certiorari in this case.

Certiorari denied.

Whitfield, C. J., and Ellis, Terrell, Brown and Buford, J. J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Amelco Inv. Corp. v. Bryant Elec. Co., 487 So. 2d 386 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)
    …find the trial court correctly ruled that appellee’s offer to pay $15,000 in full settlement of the $34,000 debt did not toll the statute of limitations on the disputed invoices. Samuel Bingham’s Sons Mfg. Co. v. Metropolis Publ. Co., 119 Fla. 333, 161 So. 426 (1935); and see 35 Fla.Jur.2d Limitations and Laches Section 70. Accordingly, the petition for writ of common law certiorari is denied. MILLS and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.…

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