Opinion
July 10, 1951.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County, Bryan Simpson, J.
J.D. Raye and Emmet Safay, Jacksonville, for appellants.
E.P. Mulcahy and W.H. McCoy, Jacksonville, for appellees.
This was a suit to reform a deed on the ground of mutual mistake, in which the Special Master found in favor of the plaintiffs on all questions of law and fact. The defendant's exceptions to the Special Master's Report were, however, sustained by the Chancellor, and final decree in defendant's favor was entered, from which the plaintiffs have appealed.
This court is committed to the rule that where a competent master is selected by the chancellor and attentively conducts the hearings, thoroughly digests the testimony of the witnesses, and arrives at conclusions which are logical and well supported, his findings should not be disregarded or overruled by the chancellor simply because of an opinion of the chancellor at variance with that of the master. See Harmon v. Harmon, Fla., 40 So.2d 209, 213. Since, in the instant case, there was ample testimony to support the conclusions of the Master, the chancellor must be held to have erred in sustaining the exceptions thereto and in entering a decree for the defendants.
For the reasons stated, the final decree appealed from should be and it is hereby
Reversed.
SEBRING, C.J., TERRELL and ROBERTS, JJ., and PARKS, Associate Justice, concur.