Case Name: CITY OF MIAMI, Appellant, v. AIRBNB, INC., etc., et al., Appellees.
Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2018-12-05
Citations: 260 So. 3d 478
Docket Number: No. 3D17-1213
Parties: CITY OF MIAMI, Appellant,
v.
AIRBNB, INC., etc., et al., Appellees.
Judges: Before LAGOA, LOGUE, and LINDSEY, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Third Series
Volume: 260
Pages: 478–489

Head Matter:
CITY OF MIAMI, Appellant,
v.
AIRBNB, INC., etc., et al., Appellees.
No. 3D17-1213
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Opinion filed December 5, 2018.
Victoria Mendez, City Attorney, and John A. Greco, Deputy City Attorney, and Christopher A. Green, Assistant City Attorney, for appellant.
Berger Singerman LLP, and Mitchell W. Berger, Paul S. Figg, Paul A. Avron, and Fred O. Goldberg (Fort Lauderdale), for appellees.
Holland & Knight LLP, and Frances Guasch De La Guardia; Craig E. Leen, City Attorney, as amicus curiae for City of Coral Gables.
Before LAGOA, LOGUE, and LINDSEY, JJ.

Opinion:
LOGUE, J.
The City of Miami appeals the trial court's order granting the plaintiffs' emergency motion for temporary injunction. We conclude that Plaintiffs, Airbnb, Inc., Yamile Bell, Ana Rubio, Gary M. Levin, Toya Bowles, and Kenneth J. Tobin, have not met the elements for the broad temporary injunction entered by the trial court. Accordingly, we reverse.
Background
Airbnb, Inc., is an online hosting platform that matches guests with short-term rentals in different parts of the world, including Miami. At a March 2017 City Commission meeting, the City of Miami adopted a resolution on short-term rentals. The resolution was based on (1) the City Of Miami's zoning ordinance, Miami 21, which limits the T3 zone to permanent residential use, and (2) the City's 2015 Zoning Interpretation of Miami 21 that declares "using a Single Family residence or Two Family-Housing (a duplex) within a T3 transect zone to provide rental accommodations per night, week, or anything less than one month would constitute an activity in violation of Miami 21."
The resolution affirmed the City's zoning regulations "as they pertain to short-term/vacation rentals" and "direct[ed] the City Manager to continue vigorously enforcing regulations pertaining to lodging uses." In attendance at the Commission meeting were several City residents who opposed the resolution because they use the Airbnb platform to rent out their properties. The City Manager informed attendees that the City was "now on notice" of those who spoke out against the City's code, and that he "will be duly bound to request our personnel to enforce the city code."
After the Commission meeting, Airbnb and several City residents who rent their properties through Airbnb sued the City for declaratory and injunctive relief. They asserted that the City's vacation rental ban in its suburban residential T3 zone was preempted by State law. The complaint also alleged that the City Manager and Mayor expressed an intent to retaliate against the individuals who spoke in support of vacation rentals at the City Commission meeting. Accordingly, the complaint also sought to enjoin the City from initiating code enforcement proceedings against those individuals, and from requiring the names and addresses of those who wish to speak at Commission meetings. Plaintiffs then filed an emergency motion for temporary injunction which mirrored the complaint's request for injunctive relief.
On April 19, 2017, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing on the motion for temporary injunction. At the hearing, an Airbnb representative testified that Airbnb was being unfairly targeted by the City. And three of the individual plaintiffs who reside in the T3 zone explained the nature of the short-term rentals they offer through Airbnb.
The City's planning director testified that the T3 zone was reserved for permanent housing and did not permit transient lodging. He explained, "It is the transient nature of the accommodation that makes it a lodging use, as opposed to the permanent residence nature of the use that makes it a single family dwelling." The City also presented the testimony of T3 zone residents who described negative experiences from living close to short-term rentals. And finally, the City Clerk testified regarding the City's practice in obtaining the names and addresses of individuals who speak at City Commission meetings.
At the end of the hearing, the trial court granted Plaintiffs' motion for temporary injunction. It concluded that Miami 21 does not prohibit vacation rentals and the City was therefore preempted under section 509.032(7)(b), Florida Statutes (2016) from enforcing its Zoning Interpretation and pronouncing any ban on short-term vacation rentals. Regarding the statements made by the City Manager and Mayor, the trial court found no evidence of retaliation. But it did find that the statements "have a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights of residents who wish to make public comments on any matter before the City Commission."
The temporary injunction enjoins the City in two respects. First, it enjoins the City from "enforcing any ban on or from instituting or enforcing its vacation rental ban in the City pending a final hearing . which would include any enforcement against the individual Plaintiffs." Second, it enjoins the City from "requiring members of the public, as a condition of their right to make public comment at City Commission meetings, from having to provide their names and addresses, and that agents of the City shall advise residents that, if they wish to remain anonymous, they will still be allowed to speak." The City timely appealed.
Analysis
"A temporary injunction is an extraordinary remedy which should be granted only sparingly." Mercado Oriental, Inc. v. Marin, 725 So. 3d 468, 469 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999). A party moving for the temporary injunction must therefore demonstrate: "(1) the likelihood of irreparable harm if the temporary injunction is not entered; (2) the unavailability of an adequate remedy at law; (3) a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; and (4) entry of the temporary injunction will serve the public interest." Genchi v. Lower Fla. Keys Hosp. Dist., 45 So.3d 915, 918-19 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010). If the party seeking a temporary injunction fails to meet any of these requirements, the motion must be denied. Id.
Moreover, "[i]njunctions must be specifically tailored to each case and they must not infringe upon conduct that does not produce the harm sought to be avoided." Angelino v. Santa Barbara Enterprises, LLC, 2 So.3d 1100, 1104 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009). In other words, injunctions "should never be broader than is necessary to secure to the injured party relief warranted by the circumstances involved in the particular case." Chevaldina v. R.K./FL Mgmt., Inc., 133 So.3d 1086, 1091 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014).
Here, based upon the limited record before us, we conclude that Plaintiffs have failed to show that they have a substantial likelihood of success to sustain such broad injunctions.
A. The injunction against the City's "vacation rental ban" is overbroad.
Miami 21 is not preempted by State law because it places land-use restrictions on all properties located in the T3 zone, which include properties used as short-term or vacation rentals. The injunction here fails to recognize that under certain circumstances, Miami 21 may prohibit short-term or vacation rentals in T3. For that reason, we conclude that the injunction is overbroad and must be reversed.
The preemption statute at issue prohibits a local government from banning or regulating vacation rentals: "A local law, ordinance, or regulation may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate the duration or frequency of rental of vacation rentals." § 509.032(7)(b). A "vacation rental" is a "condominium" or a "house or dwelling unit" rented on a transient basis. But the preemption "does not apply to any local law, ordinance, or regulation adopted on or before June 1, 2011." Id. The undisputed testimony at the hearing was that the 2016 version of Miami 21 is identical in its material provisions to the zoning code in effect in 2009.
Miami 21 places the City's core, single family neighborhoods in its T3 zone. The T3 zone is labeled "sub-urban," and the only use allowed by right is "residential." § 1.1, § 4, tbl.3, Miami 21. "Residential" is defined by Miami 21 as "land use functions predominantly of permanent housing." § 1.1 (emphasis added).
Because a vacation rental is not permanent housing-it is a short-term rental intended to serve as a guest's transient housing-Miami 21 prohibits short-term and vacation rentals in T3 that convert a property's use to something other than "predominantly of permanent housing." For example, a property owned by investors and used solely for short-term or vacation rentals would never be permitted in T3 because it does not constitute a use "predominantly of permanent housing." On the other hand, "predominantly of permanent housing" does not mean "exclusively of permanent housing." So where a T3 property's use remains predominantly of permanent housing, a mere incidental use for a short-term or vacation rental may not violate Miami 21.
As this discussion indicates, we conclude that to the extent the City's 2015 Zoning Interpretation goes beyond the restrictions in Miami 21, the Interpretation is preempted under section 509.032(7)(b). As previously noted, the City's Zoning Interpretation declares that "using a Single Family residence or Two Family-Housing (a duplex) within a T3 transect zone to provide rental accommodations per night, week, or anything less than one month would constitute an activity in Violation of Miami 21." This Zoning Interpretation suggesting a ban on all short-term rentals is itself overbroad because a short-term rental may not always alter a property's use as "predominantly of permanent housing."
In any event, the trial court here failed to recognize that Miami 21 is not preempted and prohibits certain short-term rentals that compromise the residential characteristic of T3 properties. We recognize that this "predominantly of permanent housing" analysis may create a fact-intensive, case-by-case inquiry. But the trial court here made no distinction between the types of rentals that may be permitted under Miami 21 and those that may violate the zoning restriction.
In so holding, we have not overlooked the issue of whether Airbnb's short-term or vacation rentals constitute a "lodging" use under Miami 21. Miami 21's definition of "lodging" includes "Bed & Breakfast," "Inn," and "Hotel," all of which are not permitted in T3. Under Miami 21, the "lodging" use category is
intended to encompass land [u]se functions predominantly of sleeping accommodations occupied on a rental basis for limited periods of time. These are measured in terms of lodging units: a lodging unit is a furnished room of a minimum two hundred (200) square feet that includes sanitary facilities, and that may include limited kitchen facilities.
§ 1.1(b) (emphasis added). "Lodging Unit" is further defined in Miami 21 as "living quarters comprised of furnished room (s) . not qualifying as a Dwelling Unit or efficiency apartment; occupied by transients on a rental or lease basis for limited periods of time." § 1.2 (emphasis added). Generally speaking, therefore, "lodging" under Miami 21 concerns the transient rental of "furnished rooms," like the typical room rented in a hotel, inn, or bed and breakfast. Due to the varied nature of the Airbnb rentals, we note that some rentals may qualify as lodging and some may not. Resolution of this issue cannot be made based upon the limited record before us, and it is not necessary to our holding.
The trial court limited the evidence to facts concerning the Airbnb platform and rentals by the individual plaintiffs, but it entered a very broad injunction that applied to all rental platforms and to all rentals in the T3 district. For the reasons discussed above, the temporary injunction framed by the trial court-to ban the City from prohibiting any vacation or short-term rentals in the T3 zone-is overbroad. We therefore vacate this part of the injunction.
B. The injunction enjoining the City from requiring speakers at public hearings to give their names and addresses is overbroad.
We also conclude that the second part of the trial court's injunction against the City is overbroad. As noted above, the trial court's order enjoins the City from "requiring members of the public, as a condition of their right to make public comment at City Commission meetings, from having to provide their names and addresses, and that agents of the City shall advise residents that, if they wish to remain anonymous, they will still be allowed to speak." This injunction was based on the trial court's concern that comments by the City Mayor and Manager signaled an intent to take heightened enforcement measures against property owners who spoke in favor of vacation rentals thereby chilling the owners' rights to free speech. Assuming such a concern was well taken, we hold that the remedy framed by the trial court-to ban the City from requiring public speakers from providing their names and addresses at all public hearings including hearings not involved in vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods-casts too wide a net.
There are many instances in which it is beneficial for a speaker at a public hearing to provide his or her name and address, and that practice does not chill the speaker's First Amendment rights. Calling speakers up to the podium by name provides an orderly process to conduct a public meeting without undue confusion or repetition. This benefits both the elected officials and the members of the public. Moreover, at public hearings involving local government matters such as budgeting, taxation, zoning, law enforcement, and local regulations, both elected officials and members of the public have a legitimate interest in knowing whether a speaker is a resident who will be impacted by the government action at issue. Finally, most public meetings do not offer the opportunity for governmental misuse of enforcement priorities that concerned the trial court when it issued the injunction.
In sum, the temporary injunction blocking the City from requiring the names and addresses of all speakers at all public hearings improperly "infringe[s] upon conduct that does not produce the harm sought to be avoided." Angelino, 2 So.3d at 1104. We therefore vacate the injunction.
In reversing the temporary injunction for being overbroad, we do not foreclose the trial court on remand from entering a temporary injunction narrowly tailored to address specific and identified problems as authorized by law.
Reversed and remanded.
LINDSEY, J., concurs.
The parties stipulated to several comments made by the City Manager and Mayor, including the mayor's statement that the speakers "were putting themselves in harm's way by officially, publicly, on the record saying that they are violating the code of the City of Miami."
All three testified that they reside in the properties. Two testified they sometimes move out temporarily and rent the entire property for short periods of time, while one testified that she rents out only a room. They estimated but did not know for any given year the exact number of rentals, guests per rental, or days per rental. For example, when asked on cross-examination how many days he rented his property in 2015, Kenneth Tobin testified, "I don't know the exact number of days, no." Similarly when asked on cross-examination how many days she rented her property, Yamile Bell testified "I don't have that number," but it was "more than 30 times."
For example, one City resident testified that the owner of a single family house next to his home rented bunkbeds to as many as twenty persons at a time, thereby creating a nuisance.
The legislature defined a "vacation rental" as
any unit or group of units in a condominium or cooperative or any individually or collectively owned single-family, two-family, three-family, or four-family house or dwelling unit that is also a transient public lodging establishment but that is not a timeshare project.
§ 509.242(c), Fla. Stat. (2017) (emphasis added). "Transient public lodging establishment"
means any unit, group of units, dwelling, building, or group of buildings within a single complex of buildings which is rented to guests more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less, or which is advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented to guests."
§ 509.013(4)(a)(1) (emphasis added).