Opinion ID: 1704873
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Remedial or Penal in Nature

Text: WTS asserts that the Labor Pool Act is penal in nature. In Florida, the general rule is that any ambiguity present in a civil statute of a penal nature is construed in favor of the party alleged to have violated the statute. See Diaz de la Portilla v. Fla. Elections Comm'n, 857 So.2d 913, 917 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003). Conversely, a remedial statute should be liberally construed to suppress the evil targeted by the Legislature and to fulfill the intended remedy. See Golf Channel v. Jenkins, 752 So.2d 561, 565-66 (Fla.2000). In opposition to WTS, Liner asserts that the Legislature intended for the Act to be remedial in nature: The Legislature finds that this part is necessary to provide for the health, safety, and well-being of day laborers throughout the state and to establish uniform standards of conduct and practice for labor pools in the state, and this part shall be carried out in accordance with this purpose. § 448.21, Fla. Stat. (2004) (entitled Legislative intent). While the Act is designed to remedy a specific evil, we nevertheless conclude that section 448.24(1)(b) is a civil statute that is penal in nature because of the potentially extreme punitive damages provided by section 448.25(1). Therefore, we must construe any ambiguity present in the Act in favor of WTS. The statutory language present in section 448.21 is not dispositive. Instead, the determinative factor is the nature of the provision for damages imposed for violations of the Act: (1) Any worker aggrieved by a violation of s. 448.24 shall have the right to bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the labor pool responsible for such violation. In any action commenced pursuant to this part, the worker shall be entitled to recover actual and consequential damages, or $1,000, whichever is greater, for each violation of this part, and costs. § 448.25(1), Fla. Stat. (2004) (entitled Remedies; damages; costs) (emphasis supplied). Due to the nature of a claim filed pursuant to section 448.24(1)(b), the actual damages suffered by a complainant will usually be significantly less than the statutory damages ($1000 per violation) afforded by section 448.25(1). Here, Liner claimed that WTS violated section 448.24(1)(b) when it overcharged him 50 cents for each instance of transportation to a Broward County worksite on 177 separate occasions, which produced only $265.50 in actual damages. However, those 177 separate transportation overcharges would produce $177,000 in statutory damages. The amount of actual damages claimed by Liner is minimal when compared to the amount he has claimed in statutory damages. It must also be remembered that the $1.50 fee that WTS charged for transportation to its Broward County worksites is very similar in amount to the cost of other inexpensive forms of bus-system transportation. As reflected in the plain language of section 448.25(1), the Legislature contemplated that the statutory-damages provision of $1000 per violation would virtually always yield an amount that would significantly exceed any actual damages produced by a violation of section 448.24(1)(b). Thus, section 448.24(1)(b), interpreted in light of section 448.25(1), is a civil statute of a penal nature. Additionally, our prior interpretation of another civil statute supports this conclusion. In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Laforet, 658 So.2d 55 (Fla.1995), we held that section 627.727(10), Florida Statutes (Supp.1992), was penal in nature notwithstanding the Legislature's implementing language, which stated that the purpose of the legislation was to reaffirm existing legislative intent, and as such is remedial.  Id. at 60 (emphasis supplied). This Court reasoned that section 627.727(10) was penal in nature because this statute provided the insured with an additional $200,000 in statutory damages that were not previously available in a first-party bad-faith action. See id. at 61. Section 627.727(10) enabled a first-party insured to collect excess damages caused by an insurer's bad faith even though that bad faith only injured the third-party victim. See id. at 60. Similar to section 627.727(10), section 448.24(1)(b) enables the aggrieved party to collect a significantly greater amount of damages than the actual damages inflicted upon that party. We conclude that, in providing protection for the health, safety, and well-being of day laborers, [7] the Legislature utilized the $1000-per-violation statutory-damages provision to deter labor pool companies from exploitingalbeit through a transportation charge that may only slightly exceed the cost of other inexpensive forms of mass transportationthe day laborers that they employ. Thus, section 448.24(1)(b), interpreted in pari materia with section 448.25(1), is penal in nature, and any ambiguities must be construed in favor of WTS. See Diaz de la Portilla, 857 So.2d at 917 n. 3 (holding that section 106.37 of the Campaign Financing Lawa violation of which can result in a maximum fine of $1000 per count and would necessarily have a ruinous effect on the candidate's reputationis a civil statute of a penal nature).