Huckins v. Duval County
Huckins v. Duval County
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiffs in a suit to quiet title have appealed from an order entered by the Circuit Court for Duval County granting the defendants’ motion for a summary decree and dismissing the plaintiffs’ cause.
In this suit the plaintiffs sought to quiet their title to a parcel of land, known as “Coon Point,” lying in Township 1 South, Range 28 East in Duval County, as against the claims of the said county and the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund of the State of Florida.
Although the order appealed from herein granted the defendants’ motion for a summary decree, the chancellor gave all parties an ample opportunity to present their evidence and arguments before he entered this order. Three witnesses testified on behalf of the plaintiffs, who also introduced 38 exhibits in evidence.
A review of the record on appeal requires a consideration of the validity and effect of a Spanish Grant of 1816, the
The defendant Duval County bases its title upon its claim that the land in question is sovereignty land which was conveyed in a patent from the United States to the State of Florida in 1951 and a deed of 1958 from the defendants Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund of the State of Florida to the defendant Duval County.
The appellants’ main contention seems to be that they, as riparian owners of certain upland, acquired title to Coon Point through the process of accretion. The plaintiffs, however, did not allege the theory of accretion in their complaint. Late in the proceedings they made an oral motion for leave to so amend their complaint but they later withdrew their motion and such an amendment was not made. In any event, the record is devoid of any evidence showing whether or not accretion took place. In no respect have they complied with the requirements of proof of accretion. See Siesta Properties, Inc. v. Hart, 122 So.2d 218 (Fla.App. 1960) and Mexico Beach Corporation v. St. Joe Paper Co., 97 So.2d 708 (Fla.App. 1957).
We are therefore of the opinion that the chancellor ruled properly in granting the defendants’ motion for a summary decree and in dismissing the cause.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.