SAMUEL C. GOLDEN, v. STATE OF FLORIDA
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA SAMUEL C. GOLDEN, Appellant, v. NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED CASE NO. 1D10-2059 STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. _____________________________/ Opinion filed February 7, 2011. An appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County. David M. Gooding, Judge. Samuel C. Golden, pro se, Appellant. Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Brooke Poland, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee. PER CURIAM. The appellant appeals the trial court s order denying his motion for relief from judgment filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b). In this motion, the appellant claimed that he did not receive a copy of the trial court s order denying his motions for declaratory judgment until after the time for initiating an appeal had expired. The appellant requested that the trial court vacate and then reenter the prior order so as to preserve his right to appeal. Cases such as Griffin v. Florida Parole Commission, 727 So. 2d 1092 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999), and Gibson v. Buice, 381 So. 2d 349 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980), suggest that such relief should be afforded under rule 1.540(b) when a party does not receive a copy of the order as entered by the court. The appellant s motion is thus facially sufficient and may warrant relief if the allegations therein are established as accurate and true. The appealed order is therefore reversed and the case is remanded to the trial court. On remand, the trial court is directed to conduct an evidentiary hearing as to whether the appellant received the prior order before the time to initiate an appeal expired or, in the alternative, to reenter the prior order so that the appellant may appeal that order. VAN NORTWICK, LEWIS, and ROBERTS, JJ., CONCUR. 2
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
