Opinion ID: 3066677
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: florida bankers association

Text: Appellant FBA, an association of Florida banks, did not intervene or appear in the circuit court proceedings below. Only after the circuit court entered its amended final judgment on July 18, 2014, did FBA file an appeal, arguing that the PACE Act is an unconstitutional impairment of contracts. FDFC has challenged the standing of FBA to appear in this appeal. To support its claim of standing notwithstanding its failure to appear in the bond validation proceeding below, FBA relies on Meyers v. City of St. Cloud, 78 So. 2d 402 (Fla. 1955), in which this Court allowed citizens, taxpayers, and property owners who had not appeared in the trial court to appear for the first time on appeal in a bond validation proceeding. Id. at 404. We recently receded from Meyers in Reynolds v. Leon County Energy Improvement District, SC14-710, slip op. at 4 (Fla. Oct. 1, 2015), because its reasoning was not in accord with the statutory scheme governing bond validation proceedings. However, even our decision in Meyers would not have conferred standing upon FBA. Meyers “dealt with the right of property owners and taxpayers.” Rich v. State, 663 So. 2d 1321, 1324 (Fla. 1995). As FDFC correctly -3- argues, FBA has never shown that it is a citizen, taxpayer, or property owner in any jurisdiction where the FDFC bonds will support PACE improvements. Moreover, FBA presented no evidence that it suffered any specific injury or has a stake in the matter sufficient for standing. That showing had to occur in the circuit court. Accordingly, the appeal brought by FBA is dismissed. We turn next to the claims of Robert Reynolds in this appeal.