City of Oldsmar v. State

790 So. 2d 1042, 2001 WL 776464
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJuly 12, 2001
DocketSC00-2695
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 790 So. 2d 1042 (City of Oldsmar v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Oldsmar v. State, 790 So. 2d 1042, 2001 WL 776464 (Fla. 2001).

Opinion

790 So.2d 1042 (2001)

The CITY OF OLDSMAR, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Florida and The Florida Department of Transportation, Appellees.

No. SC00-2695.

Supreme Court of Florida.

July 12, 2001.

*1044 George L. Spofford, IV and Trenton H. Cotney of Glenn Rasmussen Fogarty & Hooker, P.A., Tampa, FL, for Appellant.

Bernie McCabe, State Attorney, and C. Marie King, Assistant State Attorney, Sixth Judicial Circuit, Clearwater, FL, on behalf of the State of Florida; and Pamela S. Leslie, General Counsel, and Marianne A. Trussell, Deputy General Counsel, Tallahassee, FL, on behalf of the State of Florida, Department of Transportation, for Appellees.

PARIENTE, J.

The City of Oldsmar ("City") appeals a final order of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court for Pinellas County dismissing the City's complaint brought pursuant to chapter 75, Florida Statutes (2000), as a bond validation proceeding. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(2), Fla. Const. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the City may not utilize chapter 75 to seek to invalidate its own prior written agreement and, accordingly, we affirm the circuit court's order of dismissal.

BACKGROUND

In 1995, the Florida Department of Transportation ("DOT") began negotiations with various parties regarding a roadway improvement project in Pinellas County. As part of the roadway expansion, water and sewer utility lines owned by the City had to be relocated. The City entered into a written Joint Project Agreement ("JPA") with DOT in which the City agreed to pay DOT for the work performed to relocate the City's utilities that were located on DOT's right-of-way.

The JPA provided that DOT would ensure that the necessary adjustments and the relocation of the City's utilities would be performed by the contractor DOT hired to complete the project. The JPA also provided that the City would pay DOT $1,094,817.79, which was the estimated cost of relocating the utility lines, in advance of the construction project and that DOT would utilize this money to pay the contractor to perform the work on the City's utilities. In addition to the City agreeing to pay the initial amount, at the end of the 715-day project, the JPA also *1045 required the City to reimburse DOT for all amounts advanced by DOT, plus interest. Pursuant to the JPA, the City also was required to indemnify DOT for any additional construction expenses, damages, and attorneys' fees incurred as a result of DOT's involvement with the City's utility work.

After the completion of the project, the contractor sued DOT in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court for Hillsborough County ("Hillsborough lawsuit") for damages due to delays in completing the project. In the complaint, dated March 19, 1999, the contractor alleged that it had incurred delays and additional costs as a result of erroneous plans that the City submitted to DOT. The contractor sought an additional $6,000,000 from DOT. DOT in turn filed a third-party complaint against the City alleging that any damages resulting from the erroneous plans were the liability of the City.[1]

In addition to filing an answer, which contained affirmative defenses, and a counterclaim against DOT seeking relief under the provisions of the JPA, the City also moved for summary judgment. The City claimed that the JPA violated article VII, section 12 of the Florida Constitution,[2] because the JPA constitutes a "long term pledge of the City's ad valorem taxes and, as such, is void ab initio." The Hillsborough County Circuit Court denied the City's motion for summary judgment on the grounds that genuine issues of material fact existed. The Hillsborough lawsuit still is pending, as are the City's affirmative defenses.

After the Hillsborough Circuit Court denied the City's motion for summary judgment, in August 2000, the City filed the complaint that is the subject of this appeal pursuant to chapter 75, Florida Statutes, in the Sixth Judicial Circuit for Pinellas County ("Pinellas lawsuit"), alleging, as it did in the Hillsborough County lawsuit, that the JPA violated article VII, section 12, Florida Constitution, and is therefore void. The only named defendant in this suit was the State of Florida. The trial court issued an order to show cause, mandating that the Office of the State Attorney appear and represent the State in this matter.[3]

In its response to the order to show cause, the State, through the State Attorney, sought dismissal of the complaint, asserting that the City was without authority pursuant to chapter 75 to attempt to invalidate its prior written contract with DOT because the City's action was not a bond validation proceeding. The State also argued that the City's complaint improperly failed to name DOT as an indispensable party and that the State Attorney's office *1046 did not have the authority to represent the interests of DOT. The State argued that dismissal for lack of jurisdiction was appropriate under the circumstances.

DOT learned of the Pinellas lawsuit after being notified by the State Attorney for the Sixth Circuit. DOT then filed a motion to intervene, dismiss, or abate the City's lawsuit in Pinellas County. At a hearing on those motions, DOT argued that the Pinellas lawsuit involved a duplication of the facts, issues, and legal positions presented in the Hillsborough lawsuit. In addition, DOT argued that the Pinellas lawsuit was an improper attempt by the City to use chapter 75 to avoid its contractual obligation. DOT requested that it be allowed to intervene and, alternatively, should the trial court deny its motion to dismiss, that the Pinellas lawsuit be abated pending the outcome of the Hillsborough lawsuit.

In response, the City asserted that DOT was not an indispensable party to the Pinellas lawsuit and the City did not have a duty to advise DOT of the Pinellas lawsuit or name DOT as a defendant. Nevertheless, the City stated that it did not oppose DOT's intervention as long as the intervention did not delay these proceedings. The City conceded that the purpose of the complaint was to invalidate the JPA and further conceded that the validity of the JPA currently was being litigated in the pending Hillsborough lawsuit, where the City raised this issue as an affirmative defense. The City also admitted that the Hillsborough County Circuit Court's denial of the City's motion for summary judgment motivated the filing of the Pinellas lawsuit, and the City conceded that the Pinellas lawsuit was in fact an attempt to avoid potential liability in the Hillsborough lawsuit.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the Pinellas County Circuit Court granted DOT's motion to intervene and motion to dismiss, stating in pertinent part that it did not have jurisdiction to proceed, that it did not view the complaint as a proper chapter 75 proceeding, and the contract matter was being litigated in Hillsborough County.[4] The City appealed the circuit court's order directly to this Court, invoking our mandatory jurisdiction under article V, section 3(b)(2).

ANALYSIS

The Florida Constitution vests this Court with mandatory jurisdiction to hear appeals from final judgments in bond validation proceedings. Specifically, article V, section 3(b)(2) of the Florida Constitute states that, when provided by general law, this Court "shall hear appeals from final judgments entered in proceedings for the validation of bonds or certificates of indebtedness." The general law that provides *1047

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
790 So. 2d 1042, 2001 WL 776464, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-oldsmar-v-state-fla-2001.