Alex Diaz De La Portilla v. Miguel Angel Gabela

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: October 1, 2025
• Docket: 3D2024-1948
• Status: Published

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed October 1, 2025. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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No. 3D24-1948 Lower Tribunal No. 23-26808-CA-01 ________________

Alex Díaz De La Portilla, Appellant,

vs.

Miguel Angel Gabela, et al., Appellees.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Spencer Eig, Judge.

Michael A. Pizzi, Jr., P.A., and Michael A. Pizzi, Jr., for appellant.

Lydecker LLP, and Forrest L. Andrews, for appellees Todd Hannon and The City of Miami Canvassing Board; Law Firm of Juan-Carlos Planas, P.A., and Juan-Carlos Planas, for appellee Miguel Angel Gabela.

Before EMAS, MILLER and LOBREE, JJ.

PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See § 4(c), City of Miami Charter (2023) (“Qualifications of

mayor and city commission; . . . [C]andidates for the city commission shall

have resided within the district at least one (1) year before qualifying and be

electors in that district, and shall maintain residence in that district for the

duration of their term of office.”); City of Miami v. Gabela, 390 So. 3d 65, 70

(Fla. 3d DCA 2023) (Gabela I) (“The plain language of the City's district

residency requirement doesn't require continuous residency, or residency

immediately preceding qualification.”); see also Leon v. Carollo, 246 So. 3d

490, 496-97 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018) (finding that the one-year residency

requirement in section 4(c) is a “qualification to run for office”—not an

eligibility requirement to hold office—and holding: “[S]ection 102.168(3)(b)

does not allow a post-election challenge to a candidate's failure to meet the

qualification requirements necessary to run for office.”).