THE WALTON-OKALOOSA-SANTA ROSA MEDICAL SOCIETY ET AL., APPELLANTS,
v.
R. B. SPIRES, E. H. MYERS AND E. CHESHIRE, JR., ET AL., APPELLEES
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The court reversed a trial court's order denying a motion to quash service of process on the president of an unincorporated medical society. The court held that service on the president alone is insufficient to bind individual members of an unincorporated voluntary association, requiring instead that individual members be named and served as defendants.
Service of process on the president of an unincorporated voluntary association is not sufficient to vest the court with jurisdiction over individual members. Individual members must be made parties defendant and properly served with process. An injunction cannot be effectively enforced against an unincorporated association unless the individual members whose threatened action is sought to be enjoined are properly served.
“An unincorporated voluntary association organized for business or other purposes was not, under the common law, either considered or recognized as having any other status than that of a partnership in whatever it undertook. Such association could sue or be sued only in the names of its members, and liability had to be enforced against each member.”
Establishes the foundational common law rule governing unincorporated associations and their inability to be sued in their own name
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellee medical doctors filed a suit in equity against The Walton-Okaloosa-Santa Rosa Medical Society and the Board of Governors of the Florida Medic…
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By this interlocutory appeal review is sought of an order entered by the trial court denying a motion to quash the service of process purportedly effected upon appellant.
This suit was instituted by a complaint in equity filed by appellee medical doctors against The Walton-Okaloosa-Santa Rosa Medical Society and the Board of Governors of the Florida Medical Association. The summons issued in the case was served on one Dr. Fred Crews, who was designated therein as president of The Walton-Okaloosa-Santa Rosa Medical Society. A temporary injunction was issued without notice by which the Society was restrained from expelling plaintiffs from membership until further order of the court.
A motion was filed in the cause by Fred Crews as president of The Walton-Oka-*326loosa-Santa Rosa Medical Society for an order quashing the alleged service of process made on him in his capacity as president of the Society on the ground that the Society is an unincorporated, voluntary, non-profit association, and that the summons served only on him as president of the Society is void, invalid and legally insufficient to vest jurisdiction in the court over the individual members of the Society, none of whom were served with process. The facts alleged in the motion were established by an accompanying affidavit signed by the movant, Fred Crews. The validity of the service of process made upon the Board of Governors of the Florida Medical Association is the subject of a separate appeal pending in this court.
The motion to quash was denied by an order which recites the opinion of the court to be that The Walton-Okaloosa-Santa Rosa Medical Society is an integral and component part of the Florida Medical Association and therefore the Society is not and its function in the controversy at hand was not the action of a separate unincorporated voluntary society, nor the action of the members of said Society, but on the contrary its involvement was the direct result of its role as a component part of the Florida Medical Association.
No factual basis for the chancellor’s conclusion that the Society is an integral and component part of the Florida Medical Association appears in the record submitted for our review, nor does it appear in the appendix to appellants’ brief. Since the order comes to this court clothed with a presumption of correctness, we will indulge the assumption that evidence in support of this conclusion was adduced at the hearing on appellant’s motion to quash, and that the finding of the court is correct in all respects.
Proceeding on the premise that the appellant Society is an integral and component part of the Florida Medical Association, the question presented for our decision is whether service of process on Dr. Fred Crews as president of the Society is sufficient to vest the trial court with jurisdiction over the individual members of the Society rendering each of them amenable to the injunctive order restraining them from taking any action toward expelling appellee doctors from membership in the Society.
An examination of the complaint filed in the cause reveals allegations to the effect that the Board of Governors of the Florida Medical Association has wrongfully expelled appellee doctors from membership in the Florida Medical Association contrary to the charter and by-laws of the Association, a corporation not for profit. It is further alleged that the Board of Governors of the Association has directed the appellant Medical Society to expel appellees from membership in that Society. The complaint alleges that if the Society complies with the directive received by it from the Board of Governors, appellees will be removed as members of the staff in the hospital where they practice their profession, and will no longer be permitted to visit or treat such of their patients as may be hospitalized.
From the allegations of the complaint it affirmatively appears that the threatened action by the Society to expel appellees from membership therein is an action which can be taken only by the membership of the Society, and not by the Florida Medical Association or its Board of Governors. If the threatened action is to be effectively enjoined, the individual members of the Society must be made parties defendant to the suit and properly served with process. Process served only on the President of the Society is not sufficient to vest the court with jurisdiction over the individual members thereof.
In the Florio case1 a suit was instituted to restrain certain named defendants from *327maintaining an alleged nuisance. One of the named defendants was an unincorporated voluntary association. No individual member of the association was made a party defendant. The trial court permanently enjoined all named defendants, including the association, from continuing to engage in certain activities found to constitute a nuisance. On appeal the injunctive decree was reversed insofar as it applied to the association. In its opinion of reversal the Second District Court of Appeal, speaking through Judge Kanner, said:
“An unincorporated voluntary association organized for business or other purposes was not, under the common law, either considered or recognized as having any other status than that of a partnership in whatever it undertook. Such association could sue or be sued only in the names of its members, and liability had to be enforced against each member. The association was not recognized in court by its own name. Such an unincorporated association, being essentially different from a co-partnership constituting a mercantile or other firm, does not come within the purview of section 47.15, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., providing for service of process with respect to a co-partnership of several persons composing a mercantile or other firm. Johnston v. Albritton, 1931, 101 Fla. 1285, 134 So. 563. See also the cases of Hunt v. Adams, 1933, 111 Fla. 164, 149 So. 24; and I. W. Phillips & Co. v. Hall, 1930, 99 Fla. 1206, 128 So. 635. Since there is no statutory authority to sue and be sued in the association’s common name in the Florida jurisdiction, the common law rule for making effective service on a voluntary association must be pursued. We are not here concerned with the doctrine of class representation.
“It follows that the injunction against the Tampa Ski Bees as provided in paragraph four of the injunctive decree, since it was not founded upon service on the members individually, is without basis. * * * ”
The order appealed which denied appellants’ motion to quash the purported service of process on it is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings. Our holding is without prejudice to the right of plaintiffs to amend their complaint by naming as defendants the individual members of the Society whose threatened action is sought to be enjoined, and to bring them into the suit by proper service upon them of process to be issued in the case.
Reversed.
CARROLL, DONALD K., C. J., and RAWLS, J., concur.
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Fla. Med. Ass'n, Inc. v. Spires, 153 So. 2d 756 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963)…pellate court. We need not here discuss the validity of the service of process upon the county medical association, for that question is dealt with in our opinion in the companion case of Walton-Okaloosa-Santa-Rosa County Medical Society v. Spires, 153 So. 2d 325. In that opinion and judgment, we hold that such service was ineffective to bind the county medical association. There being no legally effective service of process upon the appellants, the entire cause became subject to dismissal because the court…
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Fla. Optometric Ass'n, Inc. v. Dep't OF Prof'l Reg., 399 So. 2d 6 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)…the case would then present an issue as to these unincorporated associations’ legal capacity to institute such proceedings. See Phillips & Co. v. Hall, 99 Fla. [*7] 1206, 128 So. 635 (1930); cf., Walton-Okaloosa-Santa Rosa Medical Society v. Spires, 153 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963).…
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Cape Cave Corp. v. State of Fla. Dep't OF Env't Reg., 498 So. 2d 1309 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)…ct will adversely affect the conservation of fish and wildlife ... or their habitats.” (e.s.) . Citing Florida Home Builders Association v. Department of Labor, 412 So. 2d 351 (Fla.1982). . Cf. Walton-Okaloosa-Santa Rosa Medical Society v. Spires, 153 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963); Florio v. State, 119 So. 2d 305 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960); I. W. Phillips & Company v. Hall, 128 So. 635 (Fla.1930). . The agency order cites section 1.01(3), Florida Statutes, for this purpose, but does appear to recognize the absenc…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Florio v. State of Fla. ex rel. A. L. Epperson, 119 So. 2d 305 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960)
- Phillips v. Hall, 99 Fla. 1206 (Fla. 1930)
- Lloyd v. The Cooper Corp., 101 Fla. 532 (Fla. 1931)
- Hunt v. Adams, 111 Fla. 164 (Fla. 1933)