Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...*39 From the above statutory provisions it appears that the trial court correctly interpreted Section 136.05, Florida Statutes (1975), to be satisfied by the board keeping the books and accounts through its clerk, the clerk of the circuit court. In regard to investment of county funds the court below held that Section 28.33, Florida Statutes (1975), requiring the clerk of the circuit court to invest funds in interest bearing certificates or direct obligations of the United States, "applies to all funds in the clerk's control, whether they come from fees or...

...te the investment place of surplus funds and the clerk is required to carry out the board's directive. In the alternative, where the board does not so designate the investment of surplus funds, these funds are to be invested by the clerk pursuant to Section 28.33, Florida Statutes (1975)....

...It is so ordered. BOYD, OVERTON and SUNDBERG, JJ., concur. OVERTON, J., concurs specially with an opinion. ADKINS, J., concurs in result only. ALDERMAN, J., dissents. OVERTON, Justice, concurring specially. I concur. This Court's recent construction of section 28.33, Florida Statutes (1977), in Beckwith v....

...further stated that "interest earned on the clerk of the circuit court's registry account is not private property." This holding precludes any disposition of these earned interest funds to the proper prevailing party. Because of our construction of section 28.33, I must agree that section 718.401(4), which mandates the deposit of rents into the registry of the courts during litigation concerning a condominium lease, does in fact constitute an impairment of rights guaranteed under the contract clause and due process provisions of the Florida and United States Constitutions....

...the lease when there is litigation concerning the lease makes this depository provision of the statute invalid. It should be noted that the clerk of the circuit court receives a fee for his services apart from the interest earned on deposited funds. § 28.33, Fla....

...fore the State's postjudgment intervention. [2] The unconstitutional statute, in relevant part, provided: "All interest accruing from moneys deposited shall be deemed income of the office of the clerk of the circuit court investing such moneys... ." § 28.33, Fla....

...Rehearing Denied October 4, 1979. Harry A. Stewart, Sanford, for appellants. Harvey M. Alper and William H. Wack, of Law Offices of Alper & Wack, Altamonte Springs, for appellees and Harvey M. Alper as receiver, in pro per. PER CURIAM. The constitutionality of section 28.33, Florida Statutes (1977), which provides that interest accruing on funds in the registry of the court shall be deemed income of the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, is before the court....

...would accrue to the court clerk's office. The clerk followed the court's order. The receiver filed a motion seeking to obtain the interest earned on the money in the sum of $91,474.71. In an order granting the receiver's motion, the trial court held section 28.33, Florida Statutes (1977), unconstitutional to the extent it applied to these "private" monies....

...property of the person ultimately receiving the principal. This proposition rests on the underlying premise that the principal remains private when deposited in the clerk's registry. Neither the premise nor the conclusion withstands close analysis. Section 28.33 does two things: (1) it authorizes the clerk to invest money in the registry of the court in order to earn interest; and (2) it dictates the disposition of the interest earned....

...*953 The receiver states that the interest retained by the clerk of court is either a fee or a tax. It is neither. The statute permits the state to retain only the amount representing interest earned on funds invested by the clerk, a function of the clerk expressly created by the statute. Interest accrues only because of section 28.33....

...Without such authority, the assertion that the retention of the interest by the county is an unconstitutional interference with the judicial process has merit. The clerk receives a fee separate from the interest for acting as a depository, so the interest cannot be considered as a service charge. Section 28.33, Florida Statutes (1977), concerns the investment of all county funds held by the clerk, not just funds in the court registry....

...unds as directory, allowing the trial judge to affirmatively direct the disposition of interest earned. If there were no such affirmative judicial action, the interest earned would be disposed of in accordance with the statutory provision. NOTES [1] § 28.33, Fla....

both in specific accordance with the terms of Section 28-33 of the Code. Reasonable evidence of equivalent

...o the registry of the court pending resolution of the dispute and prevented the lessor from taking action to dispossess or otherwise penalize defaulting tenant/class members provided rent payments were timely paid into the registry. Another statute, Section 28.33, Florida Statutes (1977), authorized the clerk of the circuit court to invest funds deposited into the registry of the courts and provided that interest earned in this fashion would be deemed income of the office of the clerk of the circuit court....

...aking decisions and in shaping their conduct. This fact of legal life underpins our modern decisions recognizing the doctrine of nonretroactivity." Id. at 199, 93 S.Ct. at 1468. In the instant case, the litigants, particularly appellees, relied upon section 28.33 without question. Thus, the unconstitutionality of the statute was an issue of first impression (in Webb's Fabulous Pharmacies ) whose resolution was not clearly foreshadowed. More specifically, the clerk of the circuit court in this case, pursuant to section 28.33, invested the funds deposited by litigants into the court registry and, in reliance on section 28.33, retained the interest earned, using it for the operation of his office and turning over any balance to the Board of County Commissioners....

...In determining whether nonretroactive application of Webb's will undermine the constitutional interest at stake, it is important to consider the exact nature of that constitutional interest in relation to the present case. First, appellants apparently never questioned the constitutionality of section 28.33 either at the time the funds were deposited in the court registry, during the pendency of the claim, or when they were ultimately determined to be the owners of the principal deposited....

...he amount to which they were entitled both before and after operation of the statute. Concluding, we point out that neither the Florida Supreme Court nor the Supreme Court of the United States spoke to the issue of whether the unconstitutionality of section 28.33 was to be given retroactive effect....

...446, 66 L.Ed.2d 358 (1980) the funds deposited in the registry of the court did not become public funds, and that earnings thereon were an incident of the ownership of the funds), review denied mem., 531 So.2d 168 (Fla.1988), cert. denied mem., 488 U.S. 1006, 109 S.Ct. 786, 102 L.Ed.2d 778 (1989). Moreover, while section 28.33, Florida Statutes (1995) states, in pertinent part, that "[m]oneys deposited in the registry of the court shall be deposited in interest-bearing certificates at the discretion of the clerk,..." the taxpayer also has the right to file a...

...Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Before CLARK, EDMONDSON and KEITH * , Circuit Judges. EDMONDSON, Circuit Judge: 1 This case deals with the retroactivity of a United States Supreme Court decision invalidating a state law. According to Fla.Stat.Ann. sec. 28.33 (West 1974), all interest earned on funds deposited in court registries was deemed to be income of the office of the clerk of each court....

...alm Beach County, Florida. Allegedly, plaintiffs deposited funds with the clerk of the court of that county, pursuant to certain Florida statutes. 1 The clerk then deposited those funds in an interest-bearing account. According to Fla.Stat.Ann. sec. 28.33 (West 1974), the interest was public income. 2 4 In 1981, the United States Supreme Court held that Fla.Stat.Ann. sec. 28.33 was an unconstitutional taking of private property....

...Moreover, when section 74.051 became effective in 1965, at least one state's highest court had already found a similar statute to violate the federal Constitution. McMillan v. Robeson County, 262 N.C. 413 , 137 S.E.2d 105 (1964). In 1972, one year before the effective date of section 28.33, another state supreme court struck down another such statute as contrary to the federal Constitution....

...481, 496 , 88 S.Ct. 2224, 2233 , 20 L.Ed.2d 1231 (1968). 12 The second inquiry is whether the purpose of the Beckwith rule will be furthered or retarded by prospective application of the holding. The defendants argue that because the offensive language of section 28.33 has been deleted from the statute, the purpose of Beckwith has been accomplished....

...consistent with this opinion. * Honorable Damon J. Keith, U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit, sitting by designation 1 It is not clear from the pleadings in this case exactly which Florida statutes were involved in those earlier proceedings 2 Section 28.33 provided: "All interest accruing from moneys deposited shall be deemed income of the office of the clerk of the circuit court investing such moneys and shall be deposited in the same accounts as are other fees and commissions of the clerk's office." Fla.Stat.Ann. sec. 28.33 (West 1974) 3 Section 28.33 was amended to read, "Except for interest earned on moneys deposited in the registry of the court, all interest accruing from moneys deposited shall be deemed income of the office of the clerk of the circuit court investing such moneys and shall be deposited in the same account as are other fees and commissions of the clerk's office." 1982 Fla.Laws c. 82-117, sec. 1, codified at Fla.Stat.Ann. sec. 28.33 (West Supp.1983) 4 In Bonner v....

provided in section 218.415, Florida Statutes. See § 28.33, Fla. Stat. (2017). In 1995, pursuant to section

legislation repealing it simultaneously created section 28.33, Florida Statutes, relating to the investment

910 from the funds placed in the registry. Section 28.33 states in pertinent part: The clerk may invest

interest earned from investment of surplus funds. Section 28.33 provides in pertinent part: Except for

funds, has invested on the county’s behalf. Section 28.33, Florida Statutes (2007), states: The clerk

and for Seminole County, Florida, and holding section 28.33, Florida Statutes (1977), constitutional. Beckwith

provided in section 218.415, Florida Statutes. See § 28.33, Fla. Stat. (2017). In 1995, pursuant to section

or accounts such funds may be invested in. Section 28.33 requires the investment of court registry funds

interest earned thereon as income of his office. Section 28.33, F.S. (1982 Supp.), provides that the clerk

Lockwood involved the constitutionality of section 28.33, Florida Statutes (1977) which authorized the

1972, one year before the effective date of section 28.33, another state supreme court struck down another

fees and commissions of the clerk's office." Section 28.33. (An exception to the requirement of s. 28.33

INVESTMENTS AS INCOME OF THE OFFICE OF THE CLERK? Section 28.33, F.S., provides for the investment of county