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DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA

FOURTH DISTRICT

CITY OF PEMBROKE PINES,

Appellant,

v.

TOWN OF SOUTHWEST RANCHES,

Appellee.

No. 4D22-2212

[March 22, 2023]

Appeal from the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, 

Broward County; Carol-Lisa Phillips, Judge; L.T. Case No. CACE22-

005880.

E. Bruce Johnson and Hudson C. Gill of Johnson, Anselmo, Murdoch, 

Burke, Piper & Hochman, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.

Richard J. DeWitt III, Jordan Blair Isrow, and Payton Poliakoff of 

Government Law Group, PLLC, Fort Lauderdale, and Susan E. Trench of 

Susan E. Trench, P.A., Miami, for appellee.

FORST, J.

Appellant City of Pembroke Pines appeals the trial court’s order 

dismissing its public records enforcement action against Appellee Town of 

Southwest Ranches. The dismissal was without prejudice to Pembroke 

Pines refiling the action once it had exhausted the conflict resolution 

procedures prescribed by Chapter 164, Florida Statutes (2022), the Florida 

Governmental Conflict Resolution Act. We affirm and write to address 

Pembroke Pines’ contention that a dispute concerning a governmental 

entity’s public records’ request is exempt from section 164.1041’s duty for 

pre-litigation negotiation. 

Background

Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches have been embroiled in a 

complex contract dispute for more than a decade. Pembroke Pines

eventually prevailed after a jury trial and was awarded its reasonable 

attorney’s fees. We recently affirmed the trial court’s final judgment in 

favor of Pembroke Pines. Town of Sw. Ranches v. City of Pembroke Pines, 
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No. 4D22-418 (Fla. 4th DCA Feb. 9, 2023). As part of its effort to establish 

the reasonableness of its attorney’s fees submission, Pembroke Pines 

made a public records request, pursuant to Chapter 119, Florida Statutes

(2022), for records related to Southwest Ranches’ attorney’s fees and 

expenses. In response, Southwest Ranches claimed that these records

were exempt from public records disclosure because the litigation between 

the parties was ongoing, pending appeal of the jury verdict. Southwest 

Ranches thus refused to produce any of the requested records. 

Pembroke Pines sent written notice to Southwest Ranches of its intent 

to sue to enforce its public records request. After Southwest Ranches still 

did not comply, Pembroke Pines filed the suit underlying this appeal.

Southwest Ranches then filed a Motion to Dismiss and/or Abate, 

referencing section 164.1041, Florida Statutes (2022). That statute

requires governmental entities to exhaust alternative dispute resolution 

options before initiating court proceedings. In response, Pembroke Pines

argued section 164.1041 does not apply to actions under Chapter 119. 

The trial court disagreed and dismissed the action without prejudice, 

stating: “once [Pembroke Pines] has exhausted the conflict resolution 

procedures in Chapter 164, it may refile the case.” The court did not rule 

on whether Southwest Ranches unlawfully refused to comply with 

Pembroke Pines’ record request. This appeal timely followed.

Analysis

Pembroke Pines’ appeal concerns the question of whether, before filing 

suit under the Public Records Act against another governmental entity, 

the suing governmental entity must first comply with section 164.1041,

and attempt pre-suit conflict resolution, or whether a Chapter 119 public 

records request falls under a statutory exception to section 164.1041’s 

“duty to negotiate.” The standard of review on this issue is de novo. B.Y. 

v. Dep’t of Child. & Fams., 887 So. 2d 1253, 1255 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022) 

(“The standard of appellate review for issues involving the interpretation of 

statutes is de novo.”).

Section 164.1041(1) imposes on government agencies a duty to 

negotiate before initiating litigation that requires that “court proceedings 

on the suit shall be abated, by order of the court, until the procedural 

options of this act have been exhausted.” § 164.1041(1), Fla. Stat. 

(2022). (emphasis added). These procedures require notice, preliminary 

and public meetings, and resolution of the conflict via passage of an 

ordinance, resolution, or interlocal agreement. See §§ 164.1053–57, Fla. 

Stat. (2022). The statute also provides a limited set of exceptions and 

instances where these procedures do not apply. 

In pertinent part, section 164.1041(1), Florida Statutes (2022) provides: 
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If a governmental entity files suit against another 

governmental entity, court proceedings on the suit shall be 

abated, by order of the court, until the procedural options of 

this act have been exhausted. The governing body of a 

governmental entity initiating conflict resolution procedures 

pursuant to this act shall, by motion, request the court to 

issue an order abating the case pursuant to this section. All 

governmental entities are encouraged to use the procedures 

in this act to resolve conflicts that may occur at any time 

between governmental entities, but shall use these procedures 

before court proceedings, consistent with the provisions of 

this section. . . . Nothing in this act is intended to abrogate 

other provisions of law which provide procedures for 

challenges to specific governmental actions, including, but not 

limited to, comprehensive plan amendments and tax 

assessment challenges. The provisions of this act shall not 

apply to conflicts between governmental entities . . . if the 

governmental entities have reached an impasse during an 

alternative dispute resolution process engaged in prior to the 

initiation of court action.

Id.

Chapter 164’s intent is that intergovernmental disputes be resolved “to 

the greatest extent possible without litigation.” § 164.102, Fla. Stat. 

(2022). In furtherance of that goal, “[i]t is not the intent of [the legislation 

creating Chapter 164] to limit the conflicts that may be considered under 

this act.” § 164.1051, Fla. Stat. (2022). 

[W]here a governmental entity files suit against another 

governmental entity and the procedural options under 

chapter 164 have not been exhausted, the plain language of 

section 164.1041(1) requires the trial court to abate the action 

regardless of whether either party has initiated the conflict 

resolution procedures. Any other reading would produce 

absurd results, would permit parties to evade conflict 

resolution in favor of litigation, frustrating the entire 

legislative purpose and intent of Chapter 164.

City of Miami v. City of Mia. Firefighters’ & Police Officers’ Ret. Tr. & Plan, 

249 So. 3d 709, 716 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018).

A number of proceedings that are exempted from the section 164.1041 

duty to negotiate are explicitly mentioned in section 164.1041(1): Chapter 

120 proceedings; appeals; crossclaims and counterclaims filed in 
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litigation; eminent domain, foreclosure or other proceedings where the 

governmental entity is a necessary party; where a different alternative 

dispute resolution process is specifically required by general law or 

contractually agreed to or used; challenges to comprehensive plan 

amendments; and tax assessment challenges. Section 164.1041(1) does 

not explicitly mention Public Records Act disputes.

Nonetheless, Pembroke Pines, below and on appeal, with reference to 

section 164.1041(1), argues that section 119.11 is a “procedure[] for 

challenges to specific governmental actions,” and the duty to negotiate 

would “abrogate” that section’s “accelerated hearing” procedure.

We agree with the Answer Brief: 

Nothing in Chapter 119 is abolished, annulled or repealed by 

requiring governmental entities to attempt to work out 

disputes between themselves regarding a public records 

request before the issue is addressed by the court. Section 

119.11(1) . . . does provide that, once a suit is filed, it is to be 

heard expeditiously and given priority over other pending 

cases, but those provisions are not abrogated by requiring a 

governmental entity to first comply with Chapter 164 when its 

dispute is with another governmental entity.

There is no statutory ambiguity here. Section 164.1041(1)’s plain 

language states that suits between government entities “shall be abated, 

by order of the court, until the procedural options of this act have been 

exhausted.” § 164.1041(1), Fla. Stat. (2022). We read this language as a 

clear effectuation of the Legislature’s intent that “conflicts between 

governmental entities be resolved to the greatest extent possible without 

litigation.” § 164.102, Fla. Stat. (2021) (emphasis added). An exception 

from the duty to negotiate, for a public record request, must come from 

the Legislature, not the courts.

Conclusion

Suits between government entities arising under Chapter 119 do not 

fall into the provided exceptions to the duty to negotiate under section 

164.1041(1). We accordingly affirm the trial court’s order dismissing 

Pembroke Pines’ public records suit until it has exhausted alternative 

dispute resolution procedures pursuant to Chapter 164. 

Affirmed.

WARNER and CIKLIN, JJ., concur.
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Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.