Case Name: INVESTMENT CORP. OF PALM BEACH d/b/a Palm Beach Kennel Club and Palm Beach Jai Alai, Calder Race Course, Inc., Tropical Park, Inc., and Gulfstream Park Racing Association, Appellants, v. DIVISION OF PARI-MUTUEL WAGERING, DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1998-07-08
Citations: 714 So. 2d 589
Docket Number: Nos. 97-3414, 97-2926
Parties: INVESTMENT CORP. OF PALM BEACH d/b/a Palm Beach Kennel Club and Palm Beach Jai Alai, Calder Race Course, Inc., Tropical Park, Inc., and Gulfstream Park Racing Association, Appellants, v. DIVISION OF PARI-MUTUEL WAGERING, DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION, Appellee.
Judges: Before COPE, FLETCHER and SHEVIN, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 714
Pages: 589–594

Head Matter:
INVESTMENT CORP. OF PALM BEACH d/b/a Palm Beach Kennel Club and Palm Beach Jai Alai, Calder Race Course, Inc., Tropical Park, Inc., and Gulfstream Park Racing Association, Appellants, v. DIVISION OF PARI-MUTUEL WAGERING, DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION, Appellee.
Nos. 97-3414, 97-2926.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
July 8, 1998.
Rutledge, Ecenia, Underwood, Purnell & Hoffman and Harold Purnell, Tallahassee; Gray Harris & Robinson and Wilbur E. Brewton and Kelly B. Plante, Tallahassee; Romanik, Huss, Paoli & Ivers, Hollywood, for appellants.
Lisa S. Nelson, Tallahassee, for appellee.
Before COPE, FLETCHER and SHEVIN, JJ.

Opinion:
FLETCHER, Judge.
In these consolidated cases, Calder Race Course, Inc. [Calder], Tropical Park, Inc. [Tropical], Gulfstream Park Racing-Association [Gulfstream], and Investment Corp. of Palm Beach [Palm Beach Kennel Club] appeal a declaratory statement rendered by the Director of the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering of the State Department of Business and Professional Regulation [Division]. We hereby set aside the declaratory statement.
By petition the appellants requested the Division's opinion as to the applicability of certain statutory provisions in determining the distribution of uncashed tickets and breaks generated from wagering on out-of-state thoroughbred races that are rebroadcast to Palm Beach Kennel Club and Palm Beach Jai Alai through Calder, Tropical, and Gulfstream. The Division issued a declaratory statement, noting therein:
"The Division is cognizant that a similar fact pattern may exist between other tracks in Florida and that the same dispute may reoccur between one of these Petitioners and a non-Petitioner. Therefore, the Division will initiate rulemaking to establish an agency statement of general applicability."
The Division then went on in the declaratory statement and provided its opinions on the issues raised by the petitions, but attempted to limit them to the appellants and their relationship with each other as to the matters questioned.
The appellants here correctly contend that once the Division reached the conclusion that the questions asked of it in the petitions had general applicability to the pari-mutuel industry, thus requiring rule-making, the Division overstepped administra tive bounds when it issued the declaratory statement. Declaratory statements are controlled by section 120.565, Florida Statutes (Supp.1996), subsection (1) of which provides:
"Any substantially affected person may seek a declaratory statement regarding an agency's opinion as to the applicability of a statutory provision, or of any rule or order of the agency, as it applies to the petitioner's particular set of circumstances." (e.s.)
The statute contemplates that declaratory statements are appropriate where they deal with a petitioner's particular factual situation, but are not appropriate where they would result in agency statements of general applicability interpreting law and policy. See Sutton v. Department of Envtl. Protection, 654 So.2d 1047 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995); Mental Health Dist. Bd., II-B v. Dep't of Health & Rehabilitative Servs., 425 So.2d 160 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). Where a declaratory statement provides a response which is not limited to specific facts and specific petitioners, but in reality adopts a broad agency policy or provides statutory or rule interpretations that apply to an entire class of persons, it will be set aside on appeal. See Tampa Elec. Co. v. Florida Dep't. of Community Affairs, 654 So.2d 998 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995); Regal Kitchens, Inc. v. Florida Dep't of Revenue, 641 So.2d 158 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994).
Our review of the declaratory statement reveals that it construes various statutory provisions of general applicability to all parimutuel permitholders who conduct intertrack wagering on simulcast rebroadcasts of horse races. As we have already noted, the Division itself recognized the need for rulemak-ing and initiated it. Its instincts in this regard were excellent, except for those which led it to issue the declaratory statement in this situation wherein rulemaking is the proper procedure.
The declaratory statement is set aside.
SHEVIN, J., concurs.
. "Breaks" are that portion of the pari-mutuel pool which is computed by rounding winnings paid to bettors down to the nearest multiple of ten cents. § 550.002(1), Fla. Stat. (Supp.1996).
. The appellants also challenge the Division's substantive opinions contained within the declaratory statement. As we are setting aside the declaratory statement we reach no conclusions on the correctness of the opinions expressed therein.
. Prior to its amendment in 1996, by section 17 of chapter 96-159, Laws of Florida, section 120.565 read in pertinent part:
"A declaratory statement shall set out the agency's opinion as to the applicability of a specified statutory provision or of any rule or order of the agency as it applies to the petitioner in his or her particular set of circumstances only." (e.s.)
As observed by the First District Court of appeal, Chiles v. Department of State, 711 So.2d 151 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)(no. 97-3854), the 1996 deletion of "only" means that the issue raised by a petition for a declaratory statement need not apply solely to the petitioner. This has not, however, authorized the use of a declaratory statement in lieu of a rule. Chiles, 711 So.2d at 154.