Court Opinion

ID: 9955124
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-27 18:03:32.146726+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:15:16.287489
License: Public Domain

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                 STATE OF FLORIDA
                  _____________________________

                         No. 1D2024-0225
                  _____________________________

PUBLIC COUNSEL,

    Petitioner,

    v.

FLORIDA PUBLIC SERVICE
COMMISSION and PLURIS
WEDGEFIELD, LLC,

    Respondents.
               _____________________________

Petition for Review of Action of the Florida Public Service
Commission—Original Jurisdiction.

                          March 27, 2024

TANENBAUM, J.

     The public counsel seeks judicial review of ratemaking action
of the Florida Public Service Commission. See § 350.128(1), Fla.
Stat. (“The District Court of Appeal, First District, shall, upon
petition, review any other action of the commission.”); see also Art.
V, § 4(b)(2), Fla. Const. (“District courts of appeal shall have the
power of direct review of administrative action, as prescribed by
general law.”). It was filed as a petition for review of non-final
agency action under section 120.68(1)(a), Florida Statutes, but the
Administrative Procedure Act does not apply to quasi-legislative
functions like the interim ratemaking being challenged here. Cf.
§ 350.001, Fla. Stat. (“The Florida Public Service Commission has
been and shall continue to be an arm of the legislative branch of
government.”); § 120.50(1), Fla. Stat. (excepting the Legislature
and judiciary from application of chapter 120); § 120.52(1), Fla.
Stat. (defining “agency” in terms that do not expressly include the
Florida Public Service Commission); § 120.52(7), Fla. Stat.
(defining “final order” as “a written final decision which results
from a proceeding under s. 120.56, s. 120.565, s. 120.569, s. 120.57,
s. 120.573, or s. 120.574,” including “final agency actions which are
affirmative, negative, injunctive, or declaratory in form”—but not
a decision on ratemaking resulting from a proceeding under
chapters 350 through 368); § 120.68(1), Fla. Stat. (addressing
“judicial review” in terms of “final agency action” and interim
orders leading to final agency action); § 120.80(13), Fla. Stat.
(specifying exceptions and exemptions for the Florida Public
Service Commission). * We in turn treat the petition as one seeking
review of action of the Florida Public Service Commission under
section 350.128, Florida Statutes.

    That stated, the public counsel now has filed a notice of
voluntary dismissal under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure
9.350(b). The petition, in turn, is dismissed. The court denies as
moot the motion to hold this case in abeyance.

    DISMISSED.

LEWIS and B.L. THOMAS, JJ., concur.
                _____________________________

    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
               _____________________________

Walt L Trierweiler, Charles John Rehwinkel, and Octavio Paulus
Simoes-Ponce, Tallahassee, for Petitioner.

    *  We suggest that the Appellate Court Rules Committee
consider revisions to Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure 9.020,
9.100, 9.110, and 9.190 to address the unique nature of judicial
review of ratemaking action.

                                 2
Michael G. Cooke, Tampa; Keith Hetrick, Daniel Joseph McNeal
Dose, Jennifer Susan Crawford, Samantha M Cibula, Douglas
Derek Sunshine, and David Clifford Ashburn, Tallahassee; Martin
Scott Friedman, Orlando, for Respondents.

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