Court Opinion

ID: 9381264
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-03-22 15:04:16.734999+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:30.961563
License: Public Domain

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
                             FOURTH DISTRICT

                      CITY OF PEMBROKE PINES,
                              Appellant,

                                    v.

                  TOWN OF SOUTHWEST RANCHES,
                            Appellee.

                             No. 4D22-2212

                            [March 22, 2023]

   Appeal from the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit,
Broward County; Carol-Lisa Phillips, Judge; L.T. Case No. CACE22-
005880.

  E. Bruce Johnson and Hudson C. Gill of Johnson, Anselmo, Murdoch,
Burke, Piper & Hochman, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.

  Richard J. DeWitt III, Jordan Blair Isrow, and Payton Poliakoff of
Government Law Group, PLLC, Fort Lauderdale, and Susan E. Trench of
Susan E. Trench, P.A., Miami, for appellee.

FORST, J.

   Appellant City of Pembroke Pines appeals the trial court’s order
dismissing its public records enforcement action against Appellee Town of
Southwest Ranches. The dismissal was without prejudice to Pembroke
Pines refiling the action once it had exhausted the conflict resolution
procedures prescribed by Chapter 164, Florida Statutes (2022), the Florida
Governmental Conflict Resolution Act. We affirm and write to address
Pembroke Pines’ contention that a dispute concerning a governmental
entity’s public records’ request is exempt from section 164.1041’s duty for
pre-litigation negotiation.

                               Background

   Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches have been embroiled in a
complex contract dispute for more than a decade. Pembroke Pines
eventually prevailed after a jury trial and was awarded its reasonable
attorney’s fees. We recently affirmed the trial court’s final judgment in
favor of Pembroke Pines. Town of Sw. Ranches v. City of Pembroke Pines,

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No. 4D22-418 (Fla. 4th DCA Feb. 9, 2023). As part of its effort to establish
the reasonableness of its attorney’s fees submission, Pembroke Pines
made a public records request, pursuant to Chapter 119, Florida Statutes
(2022), for records related to Southwest Ranches’ attorney’s fees and
expenses. In response, Southwest Ranches claimed that these records
were exempt from public records disclosure because the litigation between
the parties was ongoing, pending appeal of the jury verdict. Southwest
Ranches thus refused to produce any of the requested records.

    Pembroke Pines sent written notice to Southwest Ranches of its intent
to sue to enforce its public records request. After Southwest Ranches still
did not comply, Pembroke Pines filed the suit underlying this appeal.
Southwest Ranches then filed a Motion to Dismiss and/or Abate,
referencing section 164.1041, Florida Statutes (2022). That statute
requires governmental entities to exhaust alternative dispute resolution
options before initiating court proceedings. In response, Pembroke Pines
argued section 164.1041 does not apply to actions under Chapter 119.
The trial court disagreed and dismissed the action without prejudice,
stating: “once [Pembroke Pines] has exhausted the conflict resolution
procedures in Chapter 164, it may refile the case.” The court did not rule
on whether Southwest Ranches unlawfully refused to comply with
Pembroke Pines’ record request. This appeal timely followed.

                                 Analysis

   Pembroke Pines’ appeal concerns the question of whether, before filing
suit under the Public Records Act against another governmental entity,
the suing governmental entity must first comply with section 164.1041,
and attempt pre-suit conflict resolution, or whether a Chapter 119 public
records request falls under a statutory exception to section 164.1041’s
“duty to negotiate.” The standard of review on this issue is de novo. B.Y.
v. Dep’t of Child. & Fams., 887 So. 2d 1253, 1255 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022)
(“The standard of appellate review for issues involving the interpretation of
statutes is de novo.”).

   Section 164.1041(1) imposes on government agencies a duty to
negotiate before initiating litigation that requires that “court proceedings
on the suit shall be abated, by order of the court, until the procedural
options of this act have been exhausted.” § 164.1041(1), Fla. Stat.
(2022). (emphasis added). These procedures require notice, preliminary
and public meetings, and resolution of the conflict via passage of an
ordinance, resolution, or interlocal agreement. See §§ 164.1053–57, Fla.
Stat. (2022). The statute also provides a limited set of exceptions and
instances where these procedures do not apply.

   In pertinent part, section 164.1041(1), Florida Statutes (2022) provides:
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      If a governmental entity files suit against another
      governmental entity, court proceedings on the suit shall be
      abated, by order of the court, until the procedural options of
      this act have been exhausted. The governing body of a
      governmental entity initiating conflict resolution procedures
      pursuant to this act shall, by motion, request the court to
      issue an order abating the case pursuant to this section. All
      governmental entities are encouraged to use the procedures
      in this act to resolve conflicts that may occur at any time
      between governmental entities, but shall use these procedures
      before court proceedings, consistent with the provisions of
      this section. . . . Nothing in this act is intended to abrogate
      other provisions of law which provide procedures for
      challenges to specific governmental actions, including, but not
      limited to, comprehensive plan amendments and tax
      assessment challenges. The provisions of this act shall not
      apply to conflicts between governmental entities . . . if the
      governmental entities have reached an impasse during an
      alternative dispute resolution process engaged in prior to the
      initiation of court action.

Id.

   Chapter 164’s intent is that intergovernmental disputes be resolved “to
the greatest extent possible without litigation.” § 164.102, Fla. Stat.
(2022). In furtherance of that goal, “[i]t is not the intent of [the legislation
creating Chapter 164] to limit the conflicts that may be considered under
this act.” § 164.1051, Fla. Stat. (2022).

      [W]here a governmental entity files suit against another
      governmental entity and the procedural options under
      chapter 164 have not been exhausted, the plain language of
      section 164.1041(1) requires the trial court to abate the action
      regardless of whether either party has initiated the conflict
      resolution procedures. Any other reading would produce
      absurd results, would permit parties to evade conflict
      resolution in favor of litigation, frustrating the entire
      legislative purpose and intent of Chapter 164.

City of Miami v. City of Mia. Firefighters’ & Police Officers’ Ret. Tr. & Plan,
249 So. 3d 709, 716 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018).

   A number of proceedings that are exempted from the section 164.1041
duty to negotiate are explicitly mentioned in section 164.1041(1): Chapter
120 proceedings; appeals; crossclaims and counterclaims filed in
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litigation; eminent domain, foreclosure or other proceedings where the
governmental entity is a necessary party; where a different alternative
dispute resolution process is specifically required by general law or
contractually agreed to or used; challenges to comprehensive plan
amendments; and tax assessment challenges. Section 164.1041(1) does
not explicitly mention Public Records Act disputes.

   Nonetheless, Pembroke Pines, below and on appeal, with reference to
section 164.1041(1), argues that section 119.11 is a “procedure[] for
challenges to specific governmental actions,” and the duty to negotiate
would “abrogate” that section’s “accelerated hearing” procedure.

   We agree with the Answer Brief:

      Nothing in Chapter 119 is abolished, annulled or repealed by
      requiring governmental entities to attempt to work out
      disputes between themselves regarding a public records
      request before the issue is addressed by the court. Section
      119.11(1) . . . does provide that, once a suit is filed, it is to be
      heard expeditiously and given priority over other pending
      cases, but those provisions are not abrogated by requiring a
      governmental entity to first comply with Chapter 164 when its
      dispute is with another governmental entity.

    There is no statutory ambiguity here. Section 164.1041(1)’s plain
language states that suits between government entities “shall be abated,
by order of the court, until the procedural options of this act have been
exhausted.” § 164.1041(1), Fla. Stat. (2022). We read this language as a
clear effectuation of the Legislature’s intent that “conflicts between
governmental entities be resolved to the greatest extent possible without
litigation.” § 164.102, Fla. Stat. (2021) (emphasis added). An exception
from the duty to negotiate, for a public record request, must come from
the Legislature, not the courts.

                                 Conclusion

    Suits between government entities arising under Chapter 119 do not
fall into the provided exceptions to the duty to negotiate under section
164.1041(1). We accordingly affirm the trial court’s order dismissing
Pembroke Pines’ public records suit until it has exhausted alternative
dispute resolution procedures pursuant to Chapter 164.

   Affirmed.

WARNER and CIKLIN, JJ., concur.

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                      *        *        *

Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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