Summary
holding conditional reservation of jurisdiction allowing parties to determine whether additional judicial labor would be necessary rendered order non-final
Summary of this case from Dees v. DeesOpinion
Case No. 1D03-4134.
Opinion filed November 19, 2003.
An appeal from the Circuit Court for Clay County, McCarthy Crenshaw, Jr., Judge.
Appellant, pro se.
William Bruce Muench, Jacksonville, and Barry L. Zisser of Zisser, Robison, Brown, Nowlis Maciejewski, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellee.
Having considered the appellant's response to the Court's order of October 9, 2003, we dismiss this appeal as premature. The order on appeal, which purported to be a final order of dissolution of marriage, reserved jurisdiction to determine a factual dispute regarding certain bank and investment accounts. Therefore, the order is not final. See Hoffman v. O'Connor, 802 So.2d 1197 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002). Klein v. Klein, 551 So.2d 1235 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989).
Although the reservation of jurisdiction is conditioned on the introduction of documentary evidence, which apparently was never introduced, and the order made a conditional finding that the funds had been consumed in the marriage, the order is nonetheless nonfinal because it does not conclusively end the judicial labor in the case. Klein, 551 So.2d at 1235. Even assuming that the reservation of jurisdiction could be extinguished by the parties' failure to present documentary evidence, and therefore nothing remained for the court to determine, the instant order would not subsequently become final. See Scott ex rel. Scott v. Women's Med. Group, P.A., 837 So.2d 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003). See also Ponton v. Gross, 576 So.2d 910 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991) (holding that the order which state that the court would dismiss the action if the amended complaint were not filed within the time allowed, was not a final order); United Water Fla., Inc. v. Fla. Public Serv. Com'n, 728 So.2d 1250 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999) (holding that the order, which purported to become final on a certain future date in the absence of a petition for a formal hearing, was not a final order).
ERVIN, BOOTH and KAHN, JJ., CONCUR.
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED