Some of these cases will evolve into criminal matters and they are then referred to one of the criminal divisions of the State Attorney's Office. I am not a consumer advocate. That means I do not always take the side of the consumer, so if you are one and if you file a complaint with this division, and if I decide that legally you're in the wrong, I'll tell you. Sometimes that doesn't make people real happy, although I try to say it nicely, if directly. The other thing is, all complaints have to be on one of our handy, dandy super official complaint forms.
All complaints are of public record, which means, kinda obviously, that they are open to the public.
And every complaint is judged on its own merits. It depends on whether there is a violation of Florida law, it depends on whether the activity is, in any way, regulated by the State, it depends on the degree of proof and its quality, it depends on what can be accomplished by involving the office, it depends on what can be gained in terms of the public's interest. Occasionally a court suit is filed, when quick, drastic action is called for in order to stop something from continuing. For instance, the first suit this unit ever filed was an action for an injunction against a furniture company up in Vero that had taken deposits from consumers and then shut its doors. The injunction sought to freeze the business's bank accounts and to prevent it from disbursing the furniture that was still in the store.