Frank F. Rumeli, on March 1st, 1905, filed his petition here to vacate the decree of this court made at the June term, 1904, in the case of Rumeli et at. v. City of Tampa, or that he be permitted to take proper proceedings in the Circuit Court of Hillsborough county, Florida, to review and set aside the said decree.
At the June term, 1904, this court, in the case of Rumeli et al. v. City of Tampa, reversed the decree of the court below,, because of the fact that Rumeli, one of the appellants, was not properly served with notice of the cause in said court. Rumeli v. City of Tampa, 48 Fla. 112 37, South. Rep. 563. On March 1st, Frank F. Rumeli filed a petition in this court alleging that the solicitor who represented him in this court in taking said appeal had no authority from him to take said appeal, and that it was taken without his knowledge or any information concerning said proceedings until the 23rd of January, A. D. 1905; that he never appeared in either the Circuit or Supreme Court, and neither of said courts had any authority to render a decree affecting the rights of your petitioner; that he does not desire the decree of this court reversing the decree of the Circuit Court to remain in force, but desires the decree of the Circuit Court to remain with the same force and effect that it had 'when rendered, and prays this court to vacate its decree, or that he be permitted to take proper proceedings in the
We cannot find that this court has ever committed itself to the doctrine that in such a case as this the lack of an authorized appearance by one of the parties to an appeal was jurisdictional to the extent that the decree of this court was void in toto. Granting that there was a want of such authorized appearance it was a gross irregularity, such as would have caused a dismissal of the appeal, if notice had been taken of it in proper time and no service and severance made; but to hold our decree
It may be that that decree would be void as to Rumeli if he had been aggrieved by it, in any substantial way. But he is not aggrieved, for we must have made the same decree if there had been a summons and severance as to Rumeli. The record would still have shown him to be a necessary party and that he had not been 'brought into court. The evidence shows that since our decision was made the defendants have deposited in the registry of the court below the amounts due the city of Tampa for taxes, solicitors’ fees and costs of suit. He has sold his interest in the lots and conveyed them without warranty, with knowledge of the decree of this court, and received the benefit of our decree reversing a decree against him. His name is used in this proceeding upon the condition that he is not to be subject to trouble or costs. We cannot discover in what respect Rumeli is aggrieved by our decree. His grievance seems to be purely academic, to put the best construction upon his petition and the testimony. He says that our decree deprived him of his part of the residue of the §500 paid for the property at the sale under the reversed decree, after deducting the taxes, costs, etc. That residue is less than §200, whereas availing himself of our decree, he sold his interest on January 23rd, 1905, for §200. He got a benefit by our decree and availed himself of it. Furthermore we do not see how he could get any part of the §500 unless he made himself a party to the suit below. He could not test his right to it without becoming such party. If this is what he desires to do, he is not injured by our decree — construing his apparent appearance here into an actual appearance below. If a decision of this court were shown to be void by matter
The prayers of the petition are denied.
