Case Name: Gabriel A. TOIBERMAN, Appellant, v. Maria J. TISERA, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2008-10-08
Citations: 998 So. 2d 4
Docket Number: No. 3D07-1160
Parties: Gabriel A. TOIBERMAN, Appellant, v. Maria J. TISERA, Appellee.
Judges: Before GREEN, RAMIREZ, and CORTINAS, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 998
Pages: 4–15

Head Matter:
Gabriel A. TOIBERMAN, Appellant, v. Maria J. TISERA, Appellee.
No. 3D07-1160.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Oct. 8, 2008.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Jan. 13, 2009.
Dirk Lorenzen, for appellant.
Weiss & Kahn and Owen E. Kahn, Coral Gables, for appellee.
Before GREEN, RAMIREZ, and CORTINAS, JJ.

Opinion:
CORTINAS, J.
Appellant, Gabriel A. Toiberman ("Husband"), seeks review of an arbitrator's award, which was titled as a "Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage" (the "Award") and subsequently approved by the trial court in a written order. The Award was issued following binding arbitration proceedings between the Husband and appellee, Maria J. Tisera ("Wife"), and encompassed numerous issues between the parties, including, but not limited to, child custody, visitation, child support, alimony, and equitable distribution of assets. The agreement ("Agreement") under which the parties originally agreed to arbitrate provided:
The parties hereto have agreed to binding arbitration [of] all of the issues in this ease on December 5th and 6th, 2006 before Judge John Gale, Retired.
(Emphasis added).
The question before us is whether the language of the Agreement, wherein the parties opted to arbitrate all "issues" between them, contravenes section 44.104, Florida Statutes (2006), which specifically forbids arbitration of disputes involving child custody, visitation, or child support.
Section 44.104, Florida Statutes (2006), provides, in pertinent part:
(1) Two or more opposing parties who are involved in a civil dispute may agree in writing to submit the controversy to voluntary binding arbitration, or voluntary trial resolution, in lieu of litigation of the issues involved, prior to or after a lawsuit has been filed, provided no constitutional issue is involved.
(14) This section shall not apply to any dispute involving child custody, visitation, or child support....
Section 44.104(1), (14), Florida Statutes (2006) (emphasis added).
In construing the language of a statute, courts are required to first consider the actual language of the statute. Woodham v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Inc., 829 So.2d 891, 897 (Fla.2002) (citations omitted); Campbell v. Kessler, 848 So.2d 369, 371 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003) (finding that a court "must interpret and construe a statute according to the precise language adopted by the legislature") (quoting Fla. Gulf Health Sys. Agency Inc. v. Comm'n on Ethics, 354 So.2d 932, 933 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978)). "[T]he intent of the legislature must guide our analysis, and that intent must be determined primarily from the language of the statute." Hale v. State, 891 So.2d 517, 521 (Fla.2004) (citing Miele v. Prudential-Bache Sec. Inc., 656 So.2d 470, 471 (Fla.1995)).
The plain language of section 44.104(14) prohibits binding arbitration of child custody, visitation, or child support matters, as was done in this particular case. Accordingly, there is no question that the portion of the Award that pertains to child custody, visitation, or child support must be vacated and reversed. Next, we consider whether the remaining portions of the Award, such as the alimony award, may be upheld. This determination depends on the meaning of "dispute" within section 44.104. Consequently, we must examine whether a lawsuit that involves issues of child custody, visitation, and child support is excluded from arbitration in its totality or whether arbitration is precluded only as to the individual issues of child custody, visitation, or child support.
We begin by acknowledging that the term "dispute," as it appears in section 44.104, is ambiguous and susceptible to different interpretations. See Blanton v. City of Pinellas Park, 887 So.2d 1224, 1230 (Fla.2004) ("Ambiguity suggests that reasonable persons can find different meanings in the same language.") (quoting Forsythe v. Longboat Key Beach Erosion Control Dist., 604 So.2d 452, 455 (Fla.1992)). Accordingly, we must look beyond the plain meaning of the statute. See Weber v. Dobbins, 616 So.2d 956, 958 (Fla.1993); see also Bautista v. State, 863 So.2d 1180, 1185-86 (Fla.2003). Moreover, we are not aware of any case law interpreting the application of the term "dispute" in section 44.104.
When reviewing the use of the term "dispute" throughout other portions of Chapter 44 as well as the legislative history of portions of Chapter 44, it becomes evident that the legislature intended for the term "dispute" to address the entirety of a legal action between parties, and not merely individual claims that involve child custody, visitation, or child support issues. In 1989, the legislature amended Chapter 44 by passage of Senate Bill 237. See Ch. 89-31, § 3-4, 1989 Fla. Laws 48. The amendments to Chapter 44, included in pertinent part:
44.302 Court-ordered mediation.—
(1) Except as provided by rules promulgated by the Supreme Court, a court:
a. May refer all or any portion of a contested civil action filed in a circuit court in which there is a dispute as to any issue; or
44.304 Voluntary binding arbitration.—
(12) This section shall not apply to any dispute involving child custody, visitation, or child support, or to any dispute which involves the rights of a third party not a party to the arbitration.
Ch. 89-31, § 3-4, 1989 Fla. Laws 49-50.
The legislature's use of both the words "dispute" and "issue" in the amendment to section 44.302(l)(a) contrasts to the sole use of the term "dispute" in the amendment to section 44.304(12). Clearly, "dispute" and "issue" were intended to have different meanings and certainly were not meant to be used interchangeably. Had the legislature intended to solely preclude specific claims or issues of child custody, visitation, and child support from arbitration, it would have used more specific lan guage identifying that the issues themselves could not be arbitrated. Instead, the legislature used the significantly broader "dispute" as the focus of its proscription, thereby indicating that an entire legal action involving issues of child custody, visitation, and child support is not subject to arbitration.
The language of Chapter 44 in effect during the arbitration between the Husband and the Wife also provided in pertinent part:
44.1011 Definitions. — As used in this chapter:
(2) "Mediation" means a process whereby a neutral third person called a mediator acts to encourage and facilitate the resolution of a dispute between two or more parties. It is an informal and nonadversarial process with the objective of helping the disputing parties reach a mutually acceptable and voluntary agreement. In mediation, decisionmaking authority rests with the parties. The role of the mediator includes, but is not limited to, assisting the parties in identifying issues, fostering joint problem solving, and exploring settlement alternatives.
Section 44.1011(2), Florida Statutes (2006) (emphasis added).
In defining "mediation" within Chapter 44, the legislature, once again, clearly distinguished between the terms "dispute" and "issues." As is evident by the plain language of the mediation statute, "dispute" refers to the entire action between the parties and not to individual claims or issues. The legislature explicitly distinguished "dispute" from "issues" in stating that the mediator's ultimate goal is encouraging and facilitating a resolution of the "dispute" between the parties, and in doing so, one of the mediator's roles is assisting the parties in identifying the "issues" that underlie or comprise the greater "dispute." See Id. This language further demonstrates that the legislature envisioned different meanings for "dispute" and "issues," where "issues" describe the finer points of contention between parties that ultimately comprise the totality of the "dispute."
Based on the foregoing, we hold that the term "dispute" in section 44.104(1) and (14), Florida Statutes (2006), was intended by the legislature to reference the complete action between the parties, as opposed to the "issues involved" in the dispute. Thus, by specifying that section 44.104 "shall not apply to any dispute involving child custody, visitation, or child support," the legislature intended to exclude from arbitration all lawsuits that involve issues of child custody, visitation, or child support. See section 44.104(14), Florida Statutes (2006) (emphasis added).
Our holding is further supported by the interrelation that exists between alimony and child support considerations, which require these to be considered simultaneously. Florida courts have held that issues of alimony and child support are interrelated and should be considered simultaneously.
[A] judge possesses broad discretionary authority to do equity between the parties and has available various remedies to accomplish this purpose, including lump sum alimony, permanent periodic alimony, rehabilitative alimony, child support, a vested special equity in property, and an award of exclusive possession of property; these remedies are interrelated; their eventual use in [a] given case makes them part of one overall scheme that must be reviewed by appellate courts as a whole.
Levine v. Levine, 964 So.2d 741, 742 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007) (emphasis added) (citing Canakaris v. Canakaris, 382 So.2d 1197, 1202 (1980)). Because issues of alimony and child support are interrelated, there is not a single case that has allowed binding-arbitration of an alimony award while contemporaneously affording judicial review of child custody, visitation, and child support issues. Thus, bifurcation of such clearly interrelated issues within a lawsuit would be not only sui generis, but also imprudent and illogical.
While our esteemed colleague in dissent makes a compelling case for affir-mance based on non-preservation of error, we must be mindful that this case involved a wholly illegal procedure prohibited by statute. Fundamental or plain error, such as this one, is not waived simply because the parties and the trial court ignored the clear statutory prohibition against arbitration of cases involving child custody, visitation, and child support. Fundamental error, which can be considered on appeal without objection in the lower court, is error which goes to the foundation of the case or goes to the merits of the cause of action. Sanford v. Rubin, 237 So.2d 134 (Fla.1970) (Finding that fundamental error may be raised for the first time on appeal). Surely, if we were reviewing a criminal case that had been improvidently submitted to arbitration by consent of the parties and acquiescence by the trial judge, few would argue for the preclusion of appellate review even in the absence of a preserved objection. Similarly, family law cases involving child custody, visitation, and child support are among a very small subset of cases which are statutorily prohibited from arbitration. This evidences clear public policy considerations that were properly made by the Florida legislature. As courts of law, we are compelled to abide by the plain statutory prohibition against arbitration of such cases whether or not the objection to arbitration was first raised in the trial court or in appellate proceedings.
In Nashid v. Andrawis, 83 Conn.App. 115, 847 A.2d 1098 (2004), a case strikingly similar to the one before us, the parties agreed to proposed orders that specifically delegated matters within judicial authority to binding arbitration. See Id. at 1101-02. The trial court included in its dissolution decree the proposed, agreed-upon orders which required that issues relating to parenting access scheduling be submitted to binding arbitration. Id. The issue of improper delegation of judicial authority was not raised at trial. Id. at 1101. The Nashid court reviewed this issue under the plain error doctrine. Id. Such review "is reserved for truly extraordinary situations where the existence of the error is so obvious that it affects the fairness and integrity of and public confidence in the judicial proceedings." Id. (quoting Grayson v. Wofsey, Rosen, Kweskin & Kuriansky, 231 Conn. 168, 646 A.2d 195 (1994)). The court stated that:
It is well settled authority that "[n]o court in this state can delegate its judicial authority to any person serving the court in a non-judicial function. The court may seek the advice and heed the recommendation contained in the reports of persons engaged by the court to assist it, but in no event may such a nonjudicial entity bind the judicial authority to enter any order or judgment so advised or recommended."
Id. at 1101 (quoting Cotton v. Cotton, 11 Conn.App. 189, 526 A.2d 547, 550 (1987)).
After reviewing the parties' agreement to arbitrate, the Nashid court found that there was no express language restricting the breadth of issues to be resolved in binding arbitration. Id. at 1102. However, the unrestricted authority granted to the arbitrator contravened Connecticut General Statute § 46b-56 which required that "[a] court exercising its equitable ju risdiction with regard to custody has the duty to assure itself that its judgment will be implemented equitably to serve the best interests of the children.Id. (quoting Bouchard v. Sundberg, 80 Conn.App. 180, 834 A.2d 744, 751 (2003)). Because the arbitrator was provided with the power to review a matter statutorily placed within judicial authority, the court concluded that there was plain error in the trial court's orders and required that they "be modified to delete the delegation of judicial authority. ." Id.
Similarly, the situation presented for our review involves an agreed order submitting the entire case to binding arbitration. The issue of delegating judicial authority in violation of section 44.104(14) of the Florida Statutes was not raised during trial. However, as in Nashid, we find that it was plain error for the trial court to delegate its judicial authority to an arbitrator to decide matters relating to child custody, visitation, or child support as mandated in section 44.104(14), Florida Statutes. Because this case involved issues of child custody, visitation, and child support, and- was therefore proscribed from arbitration by section 44.104, Florida Statutes (2006), we reverse the trial court's order approving the Award, vacate the entire Award, and remand for further proceedings.
Reversed and Remanded.
RAMIREZ, J., concurs.
. Sections 44.302 and 44.304, Florida Statutes, were later renumbered as sections 44.102 and 44.104, Florida Statutes, respectively.
. Subsection (12) of section 44.304, Florida Statutes, was later renumbered as subsection (14) of section 44.104, Florida Statutes, and the language therein was expanded. However, the portions of the statute pertinent to the instant case remain unchanged.
.Words st-rleken are deletions and words underlined are additions.