Webb’s Fabulous Pharmacies, Inc.v.Beckwith

On February 12, 1976, appellant Eckerd’s of College Park, Inc., entered into an agreement to purchase for $1,812,145.77 substantially all the assets of Webb’s Fabulous Pharmacies, Inc.¹ Both Eckerd’s and Webb’s are Florida corporations.²

At the closing, Webb’s debts appeared to be greater than the purchase price.³ Eckerd’s filed a complaint of interpleader in the Circuit Court of Seminole County, Fla., interpleading as defendants both Webb’s and Webb’s creditors (almost 200 in number) and tendering the purchase price to the court.⁴

Pursuant to the court order, the amount tendered was paid to the court’s clerk and the clerk deposited it in an assignable interest-bearing account at the highest interest.⁵ Eckerd’s tendered the sum to the clerk on July 13, 1976, and that official proceeded to make the required investment.⁶ The clerk deducted from the interpleader fund the sum of $9,228.74 as his fee for services rendered for receiving money into the registry of court.⁷ The fee was calculated upon the amount placed in the registry, that is, 1% of the first $500, and ½% of the remainder.⁸

On July 5, 1977, almost a year after the tender and payment, the Circuit Court upon its own motion appointed a receiver for Webb’s.⁹ Among the receiver’s stated duties were the determination of the number and amount of claims filed against the interpleader fund and the preparation and filing with the court of a list of those claims.¹⁰ The principal of the fund, reduced by the $9,228.74 statutory fee and by $40,200 that had been paid out pursuant to court order, was paid to the receiver on July 21.¹¹ The interest earned on the interpleader fund while it was held by the clerk, but which was not turned over to the receiver, then exceeded $90,000. Interest earned thereafter on the amount so retained brought the total to more than $100,000.¹²

The receiver moved that the court direct the clerk to pay the accumulated interest to the receiver.¹³ The Circuit Court ruled favorably to the receiver.¹⁴ It held that the clerk is not entitled to any interest earned on monies deposited in the registry of this Court pursuant to the Court’s order. The creditors herein are the rightful parties entitled to all such interest. Seminole County and the clerk appealed to the Florida District Court of Appeal. That court transferred the cause to the Supreme Court of Florida.¹⁵ The Supreme Court, in a per curiam opinion with one justice dissenting in part, ruled that the statute was constitutional and reversed the judgment of the Circuit Court.¹⁶ Because it had been held elsewhere that a county’s appropriation of the interest earned on private funds deposited in court in an interpleader action is an unconstitutional taking, the Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction.¹⁷